


Dude, who the fuck is Junko Enoshima?

by 0urhappygirl500



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Chapter 5 Spoilers, Multi, Oh look another rewrite of a game where i make it so my favourite character doesn't die, Other, please let me have a consistent update schedual fore this one, this is going to be a mess but a hilarious one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-02-16 23:44:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13064673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0urhappygirl500/pseuds/0urhappygirl500
Summary: Ouma watches out of the corner of his eye at the court room being shown on the screen inside the exisal that he and Momota are currently crammed into while he and Momota bicker and fight over the controls Harukawa glares at the Exisal with both hate and determination in her eyes "Before we vote, I want to say something to Kokichi... You may be the mastermind but I won't let you escape after you violated the rules. That would desecrate the killing game Junko Enoshima created, right?""... Your beloved Junko Enoshima."At Harukawa's words both Ouma and Momota freeze, Momota stops pulling the back of Ouma's shirt and Ouma stops elbowing Momota's ribs. They stare at each other in confusion for a few moments before Momota finally asks the very question running through Ouma's mind "Dude, who the fuck is Junko Enoshima?"And all Ouma can do is shrug because honestly he has no fucking clue.--Both Kaito and Kokichi somehow survive the poison and are now crammed in the exisal together throughout chapter 5.





	1. Change in plans

Ouma always knew that Harukawa was going to kill someone; he just knew. Killers didn't change after all. Though technically Ouma guesses he could be counted as a killer, even if he hadn't done it himself both Iruma's and Gokuhara's blood was on his hand. He had planned the whole thing. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't really a murderer since he wasn't killing anyone himself directly, it didn't make him the blackened after all but that was a lie.

He spared a small look at the bottle that could so easily save his life at the expense of two others. It could be so easy; he already had two deaths on his hands what were two more? But no matter how much he told himself that it was just as necessary as what happened with Iruma he couldn't because all that was a lie. After the third trial, he had told Yumeno that lying to your self-wasn't good… maybe Ouma should take his own advice.

Ouma always knew that Harukawa was going to kill someone and the moment her hands wrapped around his throat as he was about to reveal her talent to the others he had a pretty good feeling that that person was going to be him.

He was getting kind of tired of being right.

Even with how easy it would be to save his own life, even if Momota was dying anyway, even if Harukawa deserved to be executed, deserved judgment for being a murderer . . . He couldn't. Ouma couldn't allow himself to be responsible for any more deaths because if he did he wouldn't be able to call himself the Super High School Level Supreme Leader anymore. DICE and its members… his family might be a lie, all Ouma's memories of them might be a lie but, Ouma still didn't want to betray everything they believed in anymore.

DICE may very well be a lie but it was one that Ouma would pretend was true until the very end.

So thinking of a family that was probably just a lie he practically forced the antidote into Momota's hands ignoring the others surprise as he frantically put together one final plan to throw the mastermind off guard and end the killing game in his mind.

Momota had been fumbling with the bottle and Ouma was almost tempted to ask if he needed help because Ouma had just decided to save him and Harukawa and he didn't want Momota ruining the plan that he had just made before it had even started just because he couldn't open a fucking bottle. But stopped when he saw Momota drink the antidote barely holding back his sigh of relief at the sight. That was step one down at least now for the hard part.

Momota was looking at him with a look of distrust, disbelief and relief all mixed in together and if Ouma wasn't in pain from the poison that felt like it was burning its way through his system he might have given a playful smile instead he started talking about how Momota would have to cooperate with his plan as the other boys expression changed to one of confusion and anger.

"Plan? What plan?" for someone who was dying and had just had poison flowing through his blood a few minutes ago Momota still did a good job of acting like a hero facing a villain. Ouma didn't know whether to commend him for that or to simply find it boring.

Ignoring the pain that it took to even breath Ouma forced his words out, he needed to explain, he couldn't afford to fail now. "I- I've been thinking this whole time… of a plan to throw the mastermind off guard…" he began wincing half from the pain and half from how weak his own voice sounded right now.

"Throw them off guard?" Momota suddenly asked the anger leaving his face leaving only confusion "What are you talking about? You're the mastermind!" and Ouma had to do everything he could to hold in a laugh because oh, right, that. In his defence the plan had looked like the best option for the cards he held as he was making it, that's why he carried it out even if in hindsight it didn't go very well.

Hindsight was such a bitch.

"Ohhh… um, that was a lie… I- I only pretended to be the mastermind…" he explained trying to brush it off, it wasn't a big deal it didn't matter right now.

"Pretended!?" Momota said with such shock that Ouma had no idea how he wasn't rolling his eyes or laughing. Honestly, his was impressed with himself.

"You all fell for it… But y'know… I prepared a bunch of stuff…" Ouma continued taking out Iruma's remote as if he hadn't heard Momota, they didn't have much time Momota could think about it after he killed Ouma. "Like this remote control… I had Miu make it… The mysterious message in the courtyard… Using Gonta and making him a murderer…" he let himself wince slightly with that last admission before continuing, "All that preparation was just to make you guys think I was the mastermind."

"Wh- What the hell!? Why'd you do all that…?" Momota yelled sheer confusion.

Now wasn't that the million dollar question? The heart of truth within all his lies. "The reason why… I pretended to be the mastermind…" the words fell out of his mouth far too calmly for the anger that came dripping with his next words "… was to end this boring killing game!"

That's all he wanted to end this pathetic excuse for a game, he'd been trying and failing ever since Monokuma that fucking bear first announced it. Back when there were sixteen of them. Calling it a game was giving it too much credit, nothing where lives were on the line, deserved to be called a game. The words killing and game going together would never make sense to him because it was something that should never happen.

"To end it?" Momota asked still looking confused though his expression was softer now.

"I thought if I showed you guys the ‘despairing truth', you guys wouldn't want to go outside anymore…" Ouma clarified remembering the plan. Take away their desire to fight, take away their desire to kill and then pretend to be the mastermind to stop the others from acting. Though the killing game didn't deserve to be called a game it still pretended to be one at the very least and if there was no prize then no one would want to play and if the game master said the game was over then no one would continue playing either.

"I thought it would end the killing game."

He said the last sentence in almost a whisper idly noting that he was being the most honest he had ever been since his creation, he guesses if there was ever a time to stop lying it might as well be just before his death.

"But instead… this happened." Ouma continues as the situation started to slowly really sink in "I'm going to die by Maki's hands…" bitterness edging its way into his voice. "Why do you think this happened? Why do you think Maki tried to kill me? Why do you think the killing game started again?"

"Why…?" Momota echoed even though Ouma wasn't really asking him, simply voicing his frustrations out loud at an unjust world that only created them to die; but since Momota took it as a question he was asking Ouma might as well answer it for him.

"Because the true mastermind instigated it. I'm certain of it." Ouma said trying to cover his frustrations and helplessness with playful disappointment. "They made a move… without us noticing. Maaan… thanks to that, everything is ruined…" he would have let out a half-hearted laugh to sell the poorly constructed lie of him simply being disappointed but it hurt to breathe right now let alone laugh and he didn't trust any laughter not to turn hysterical right now anyway.

"The true mastermind instigated it? So whoever that person is, they also instigated Maki's actions too?" Momota suddenly asks and of course that's what he thinks about, well not that it matters it just an extra factor that can convince Momota to go along with his plan.

"Yeah… they probably tried to eliminate me because I pretended to be the mastermind…" Ouma conceded, he'd prepared to be a target but he really thought he could survive…

"Then who is this true mastermind!?" Momota yells cutting into Ouma's thoughts and Ouma takes back what he thought earlier because THAT was the REAL million-dollar question here. A question and a mystery in the school that he'll never be able to uncover.

Ouma takes a shaky breath as he answers "wh- who knows… I dunno either… But it doesn't matter… we can't lose… This game is pointless… unless you win. That's why… I thought of a special plan… When I'm on the verge of losing… my plan will help me with!" he declared twisting his expression into something cruel. Well, what he was about to ask Momota to do next was the cruellest thing of all after all.

"I don't really get it, but is this the plan to throw off the mastermind?" Momota asked and Ouma couldn't believe how naïve he was to not see where Ouma was leading the conversation.

Taking on a condescending tone and a sinister expression Ouma slowly laid out his final request "well, it's not that difficult… Kaito… I need you… to kill me."

The shock and horror that placed itself of Momota's face was certainly a sight the other boy spluttering in confusion but that's fine Ouma was expecting that, he was even expecting the anger to seep into the other boy's expression "hey cut that shit out no one has to die!" Momota yelled and Ouma simply sneered at him.

"Really? Because I'm dying from the poison Maki shot into me earlier, if you don't do anything she'll be chosen as the blackened and executed." Ouma informed him managing to let out a small laugh somehow.

He watched as the astronaut clenched his fist muttering "why you…" under his breath and Ouma was convinced that if he wasn't already dying of poison in front of him Momota would have punched him again right now. "No one has to die you little shit! Just take the antidote!" Momota yelled at him causing him to freeze completely stunned at Momota for even suggesting that.

Clenching his fist Ouma replied, "you really are stupid Kaito! I mean I knew you were but this is a whole new level! You literally just took the antidote!" his voice aiming for mocking but practically coming out as hysterical but instead of dragging the astronaut down to earth he just seemed to get angrier.

"Don't call me that! And there's enough antidote in that bottle for at least three uses I checked!" Momota declared and everything came grinding to a halt.

"… What?"

Whatever expression or lack of that Ouma showed was enough to take Momota off guard because the other boy paused in his anger and after a second of silence asked, "you knew that right? You weren't just going to give me the only antidote, I mean I thought it was weird that you let me take it first that's why I checked it but..." Momota trailed off the disbelief and realization is clear in his voice.

"Show me." Ouma simply orders holding out his hand to check and Momota easily complies, but he's not going to let himself believe, he's not going to let himself hope and then he sees that Momota wasn't lying to get out of killing him and he wasn't mistaken.

Ouma's taking the antidote before he can stop himself, Momota wouldn't kill him if Ouma wasn't dying anyway but that might be a lie, guess deep down he didn't really want to die.

When it's easier to breathe, when his blood stops feeling as though it's burning him Ouma begins reworking the plan in his mind. He still needs to throw off the mastermind but he's not going to die now, he can still make this work though…

A huge smile plasters his face as he turns towards Momota who had been almost unusually quiet while Ouma pulled himself together "all right new plan… what if we fake our deaths!"


	2. Knowing the victim

For a plan that was thrown together so quickly things were going surprisingly well all things considered. It had been a little hard to convince Momota that faking a death was the best way to throw off Monokuma and end the killing game though and if Ouma had to play a few ‘Harukawa tried to kill me' cards then that's what he had to do. Though Ouma guesses that Momota also agreed to the plan since no one was actually dying. One thing he should have really thought about though was how little space there was for both of them inside the exisal.

Ouma realized that there was just enough space for one person in an exisal; the mere fact that Harukawa used an Exisal to get into the hanger to try and kill him was the poof of that. The problem is that once you tried to fit two people into an exisal things suddenly got a lot more… cramped.

Momota wincing in pain from Ouma accidentally elbowing him in the ribs again was proof of that. The sound brought Ouma's attention to the other boy who narrowed his eyes at him; Ouma simply gave him a smile as if conveying an apology, which only seemed to make Momota glare harder. "You did that on purpose you little shit!" Momota hissed with an annoyed tone of voice; clearly, the only reasonable response to that was a shocked gasp to convey how truly hurt he was by such an accusation. It might not be the best time to gasp considering it wasn't confirmed whether or not they had a limited air supply in the exisal but then again Ouma was always one for dramatics.

"I would *never* frankly I'm insulted that you would even accuse me of such a thing-" Ouma began when suddenly he was pushed up against the wall of his side of the exisal cutting off his sentence midway; he glared at Momota who simply gave him a shrug.

"Oh sorry man my bad, there's just so little room in here you know?" Momota told him pretending to be apologetic but Ouma could still see the slight tug of the corner of the mouth hinting of a smile.

Ugh, this was going to be the worst Ouma just knew, it was too cramped and it was hard enough focusing with the pain of his wounds from when he was shot by Harukawa without Momota bothering him. The astronaut's cough was also getting worse, bad enough that Ouma had idly wondered if all that blood could have been used with the fake death. He might have even said that out loud which caused Momota to glare at him and say a few curse words and call him creepy but what else is new.

Ouma just wanted to get through the class trial, end it as soon as possible and ruin this boring killing game for Monokuma, the mastermind and the sick bastards watching this. It wasn't like he was worried about Momota's condition or anything and whether or not the other boy would even make it through the class trial. Being cooped up in a small space like inside the exisal definitely wasn't doing any wonders for Momota's health. Again not because he was worried or anything, he just didn't want Momota to die before they defeated the mastermind.

Ouma really didn't want anyone else to die.

If Ouma could have it his way Momota wouldn't even be in the exisal with him, Ouma could act Momota's lines probably better than Momota himself. He was a liar after all. All Momota was really doing right now was making things more uncomfortable and harder to focus and kept on trying to take control of the exisal complaining about Ouma's driving. Which was fine!

The only reason Ouma let Momota be inside the exisal was that if he was anywhere else there was a chance that Momota would be discovered completely ruining the entire plan. So, for now, he just had to deal with being stuck with Momota until the class trial was over, it didn't matter who was chosen as the blackened because there was no blackened which means that if Monokuma declares a class trial when the others see the mess that they left in the hanger then Monokuma would have announced an invalid trial calling into question Monokuma's authority.

And the people watching wouldn't like that, would they?

Honestly, though Ouma had no idea whether or not this plan would truly end the killing game really all he could do was hope it was all he had after all, but… he was glad that that fact that there was no victim or blackened meant that no one else had to die now. 

Especially since he's not the one dying, he was very glad about not dying since it means that he didn't have to suffer in the afterlife and be forced to let Momota pretend to be him. Ouma would bet money that the astronaut's acting skills were probably awful if they went with the original plan no doubt Ouma would be rolling in his metaphorical grave. Ouma had made a script for whoever would help him pull off his final lie but something told him that even then Momota would probably still be awful at pretending to be Ouma.

A very big reason why the new plan was better than the original final lie. 

Ouma straightened himself and pushed himself towards the controls and Momota further away from them. This was Ouma's plan after all so he should be the one taking the lead and piloting the exisal. He was also one of the few people who had any competency in this prison of a school anyway so if Momota would put his hero complex away for a while so Ouma could actually get things done that would be greatly appreciated. 

Ouma pretended to pout at Momota while shoving the other boy closer to the other side of the Exisal and forced his eyes to tear up slightly, "you're so mean Kaito I didn't do anything to you!"

At which Momota spluttered in exasperation "you elbowed me first!" the astronaut yelled at him and Ouma started sniffling and tearing up some more.

"That was an accident! I didn't mean to! It's so small in here I can't help it!" Ouma protested between fake hiccups, ignoring the theatrics what he just said was true though he doubted Momota believed him the look on his face told Ouma that he didn't believe him. Sometimes Ouma felt like he might as well not lie half the time when most people were usually so reluctant to listen to the truth. "And it really hurt when you pushed me. Whaaaaa! Why are you so mean to me!" That part was a lie.

"Cut it out!" Momota yelled when he had started crying his crocodile tears before turning away, "Like you said it's way too cramped in here."

Ouma immediately turned off his tears appearing for all the world or really just Momota in this case as though he hadn't been crying at all.

"That's a lie and you no it, so mean…"

"Hey cut it out you elbowed me first!" Momota protested to which Ouma simply let out his signature laugh.

"Well, that all right I was lying about being hurt anyway!" Ouma told him acting cheerful but paused when Momota didn't act as he expected. He had expected Momota to argue with him or something but instead, the other boy just clicked his tongue and turned his head away. 

Momota's illness was probably getting worse if he didn't even have that much energy left to argue with him; not that Ouma was worried or anything it's just Momota was being a bit boring right now. Though Ouma was slightly worried that Momota's acting would be even worse in the trial and he'd give something away. With his final lie, he had been taking into account the fact that Momota would technically be the blackened and that death penalty hanging over his head would force some decent acting out of the astronaut. Though that might not even be the case with Momota dying anyway so maybe it wouldn't affect the new plan too much. 

Hmm now that Ouma thought about it he had taken to calling the plan that would involve his death his final lie so what should he call this new ‘he doesn't have to die' plan?

"Hey, Kaito! I just noticed that we don't have a cool name for the plan…. How could you possibly let this happen? You should be ashamed of yourself!" Ouma scolded grabbing the other boy's attention who looked at him in surprise.

"What? Why am I responsible for the name isn't it your crazy plan? And anyway do we even need a name for this plan?" Momota asked and Ouma let out another fake gasp.

"Of *course* we do! All good plans have names!"

Momota raised an eye at Ouma's reasoning before looking thoughtful. The fact that Momota was actually considering making a name for their plan was surprising though he guesses heroes want names for their plans too it almost made Ouma smile, it was always nice making plans with other people and coming up with names for the plans was often a huge part of the fun. It was what made DICE his family and the place he loved the most after all. Ignoring the fact that DICE might not even exist, that thought still made him bitter. The fact that the one place he ever belonged probably wasn't even real.

After a few short moments of Momota thinking Ouma was tempted to make a ‘don't hurt yourself comment' but held back for some reason until Momota finally looked as if he decided on something.

"I got it how about Chromatic aberration? It's when visible light is made of different colours. When it passes through a glass lens or a prism, it gets split, into its many colours and it kind of like there are all these possibilities for the outcome Shūichi and the others will reach." Momota suggests and huh, that was kind of a cleaver answer.

"Hmm, are you trying to make this about space or something lame like that?" Ouma said making his voice sound disappointed and bored. He swears he could see a vain on Momota's head the next second.

"Why you little-!" Momota began to say when a sound from outside the exisal began to ring and Monokuma's awful voice began to play out.

*Ding dong, dong ding…*

"Upupup…. Upupup upupupu…. A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather at the Exisal hanger! Upupup upupupu! The killing game just keeps going and going! The despair's not over yet!"

Both boys paused their conversation a heavy silence hanging over them. "I guess it's starting huh?" Momota said as if trying to come off nonchalant but still looking slightly tense. 

"Hmmm…I guess Monokuma and the others bought it that someone died in the hanger, that means everything is going according to plan." Ouma told him, leaving out the ‘for once' that nearly made its way under his breath.

"So…" Momota began awkwardly "what happens now?" That was a surprisingly good question, what did happen now. No doubt Monokuma would try to figure about the ‘culprit' to be able to pass judgment on them and the bear would probably catch wind of the fact that they were trying to hide the identity of the ‘victim' and might try and figure it out himself.

"We wait for the class trial for when things really begin, Monokuma might show up to try and pry the answers out from us before the trial but it's important that we don't give him anything," Ouma instructed before trying to work out the next step. "Meanwhile the others are probably waiting for the class trail themselves to condemn me or are valiantly working hard on finding the truth behind your death since they'd view me killing you as more likely than you killing, the only one bothering to actually put the work in and investigate is probably our beloved detective but he does most of the work in the class trial anyway."

Momota raised up a sound of protest and for a second he thought that he'd say he does work too what with Sahara being his sidekick or something ridiculous like that but instead the astronaut said something even more ridiculous. "They'd try and find the truth about your death too you know," Momota said and Ouma took a second longer than he was proud of to processes that sentence and the fact that Momota for some reason seemed to believe it.

"Maybe but for entirely different reasons" Ouma stated keeping his voice as bored and uninterested as possible. Momota opened his mouth to say something else probably something even more ridiculous than the last thing that came out of his mouth when he was interrupted by Monokuma's sudden appearance.

"Hey there Kokichi how you doing in there?" Monokuma asked in a cheerful voice and Ouma resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Why do you think Kokichi is in here?" Momota asked through the microphone and oh god what did he think he was doing!? Trying to repair Momota had done Ouma quickly pushed Momota to the side away from the microphone away from him.

"Nishishi, that's a lie! Hey Monokuma did you know that it's possible to change your voice to sound like anyone in here?" Ouma playfully asked and Monokuma stared at the exisal before bursting out into laughter.

"Boy, you sure to sound just like him Kaito! Wow, technology sure is amazing nowadays! Of course, I knew it was you in there after all Kokichi wouldn't break his important rule let someone die…" Momokuma said before pausing with a gasp faker than the ones Ouma had been doing earlier "oops I forgot about Miu and Gonta."

Both boys flinched slightly in the exisal though Ouma made sure to keep his barely noticeable and instead leaned further into the mic, and started speaking with far more venom than he should but there were more important things to cover "Rules are kind of boring though so I'm not usually the kind of person to follow them unless the games good so I'm not sure what your talking about" 

Ouma turned towards Momota leaning away from the microphone to try and clue the other boy into what he thought was going on "he's trying to get a response to give him a clue on who's in the exisal and that means riling us up so just ignore him". Ouma instructed as Monokuma began laughing again.

"Oh that's right you don't know much about Kokichi do you Kaito? Well, can't say I blame you he was terrible at socialising outside his little ‘family' geez youth these days…" Monokuma trailed off lowering his head and looking disappointed, at the mention of ‘family' of DICE Ouma couldn't stop his body from freezing slightly for less than a second and somehow Momota seemed to pick up on it though because the other boy began reaching for the microphone before Ouma covered it with his hand.

"I'll let you in on a little secret though… Ouma wasn't really the mastermind," Monokuma said and Ouma rolled his eyes because yeah, everyone that could be in the exisal knew about already "I guess Maki killed someone for no reason then!" Monokuma said laughing heartily and Ouma had to stop Momota from responding by literally shoving him only to have Momota shove him back as the two began fighting over the controls.

"I told you he's trying to bait us!" Ouma hissed when suddenly he caught sight of something Monokuma had taken out. A cubs pad…shit.

"I brought this because I think it's good to remember who the dead really was you know? I'm a sensitive guy like that." Monokuma said and Ouma made a move for the controls and the mic not knowing whether or not he was doing to rip the cub's pad from Monokuma's hands or try to dismiss it when Momota's hand stopped him.

"Didn't you just say he was trying to bait us?" Momota asked when suddenly the cub's pad started playing and Ouma froze at the worst possible time.

"Alright! Back by popular demand, it's time for the motive video! Who's the most important person in *your* life? And now, without further ado… Kokichi Ouma, the Super High School Level Supreme Leader… He caused mayhem the world over as the leader of the secret organization DICE. And by ‘mayhem', I mean petty nonviolent crimes and harmless pranks… Anyway, Kokichi had ten loyal goons working for him. These goons were like friends and family… The most important people in his life… But then, a terrible event befell those precious people… What kind of event? It's a secret! Find out for yourself. Upupupu…"

There was a silence inside the exisal as Ouma clenched his fist "he's trying to bait you! Just ignore him! He's trying to bait you!" Ouma hissed knowing that he more talking to himself than Momota, as he was trying to contain his anger. It was hard to say what he was angry about, the fact that he was forced to watch DICE be tortured again? The fact that Monokuma went into his room? That Momota now knew the biggest secret he had in this game?

He didn't know but he did know that he really, really, really hated Monokuma right now. After a few seconds of silence from the Exisal Monokuma spoke up "Whelp! I better put this back where I found it! See you at the trial Kokichi," Monokuma said before disappearing.

Crap, no response might have been the answer Monokuma was looking he'll have to find a way to fix this in the trial. 

Ouma bit his thumb thinking of his next move against the mastermind and the killing game while trying to calm down and ignore the considering look that had begun to show in Momota's eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so many of you liked the last chapter, I feel as though I have a lot of you to disapoint ha ha. Anyway Ouma has barely been in the exisal for ten minutes and he's been shoved by Kaito and exposed by Monokuma, so he's alive but not having fun. Thanks to all of you for all the kudos this is my most popular fic ever how?
> 
> Sorry if it comes out incoherent with lots of spelling mistakes, since it's the holidays I'm busy with family stuff and the only time I get to write is night time so I'm doing this instead of sleep and am literally dozing off while typing.


	3. SHSL Prankster

Be careful what you wish for, wasn't that the saying?

As soon as Ouma entered the exisal with Momota he had been hoping that the other would shut up so he could think. Now Momota was quiet, too quiet the other boy had this look in his eyes as if he was trying to figure something out about Ouma and Ouma didn't like it, he didn't want to be figured out by anyone, not even his beloved detective. Saihara was the most ‘not boring' person here and honestly he had always wanted to meet a detective.

When he was younger before he had even thought about forming DICE Ouma had once had this little dream of being an elusive phantom thief with a detective rival who was constantly chasing him while they danced across the globe in a battle of wits.

But even with Ouma's childish fantasy and the fact that Saihara was fun and interesting to mess with, even then Ouma didn't really want the detective unravelling all his secrets and if he didn't want his beloved Saihara unravelling his secrets, he definitely didn't want Momota unravelling them instead.

Ouma bit the bottom of his lip as he tried to examine the reasons behind Monokuma's actions. If Ouma didn't give them away with his silence then hopefully the bear still had no idea who was in the exisal. Thinking about it showing Ouma's motive video was an incredibly well thought out move on Monokuma's part because it was almost guaranteed to get a reaction no matter who was in the exisal. Momota on learning more about the person he ‘killed' and Ouma with being mocked on the fate of DICE again. It was obviously a well-planned strategy of attack and was another reminder that Ouma was dealing with a difficult opponent here. 

Somehow the mastermind had derailed everything Ouma had been building up, everything that he had been trying to figure out making his sacrifice of Gokuhara and Iruma's lives worthless and nearly getting him killed in the process. Which meant that somehow the mastermind had somehow nearly backed him into a corner, it had nearly been checkmate for him and he needed to figure out how; needed to replay the game and the moves he made to figure out where he went wrong, where the mastermind had the opportunity to instigate Harukawa's actions into nearly killing him. 

Not that Ouma wasn't prepared to die, his time in *that facility* made sure of that. The thought of *that place* always brought a sickening taste to his mouth and he had to suppress the urge to gag or let a shiver crawl down his spine that always seemed to accompany the memories of his life before he decided to create DICE. Momota had already seen enough weakness from Ouma, like hell was he letting the astronaut find out more of his secrets.

The one good thing, maybe the only good thing about the possibility of his memories being a lie was that that particular time in his life could be a lie as well. Ouma had hoped that he had put that chapter of his life behind him but ever since being trapped in this godforsaken school he keeps getting reminded of it. Getting used to death and murder, the planning and betrayal, the feeling of being trapped, being prepared for the possibility of being tortured or having to die, Maki fucking Harukawa was here for god's sake!

She was a face he had hoped to never see again, the only bit of luck he had was that she didn't recognize him. Then again it wasn't like they were particularly close back then and he had taken measures so that anyone who knew him then wouldn't know him now. Partly to forget the past, partly to avoid the possibility of someone tracking him down.

Ouma took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down, that stuff didn't matter, Harukawa didn't matter; she was an awful murder girl who abandoned the people who depended on her to be part of an awful system that thrived on murder and assassination. She might have somehow made everyone like her but that was probably because they all thought she was some kind of tragic figure that was forced into a life of murder but Ouma knew the truth, probably better than anyone else here he knew that Harukawa chose to be an assassin.

The worst thing about this prison of a school was Ouma was slowly starting to understand why. Ouma never really liked lies but they are something that was necessary sometimes, a lie didn't necessarily have to be bad. But Ouma had always hated murder; he never understood why someone would take another's life and he never wanted to but this place forced him to…

No, no stop thinking about that, he needed to focus he needed to analyze. Ouma was good at analysis and predicting people to the point where things would become boring if he didn't cause the occasional bit of mischief and chaos. He needed to think while Momota was still being quiet because the entire time they were in the exisal Momota kept on coughing, and interrupting him while he was thinking and shoving him in this too small space and that entire time Ouma just wanted the other boy to be quiet so he could think but now Momota was quiet and that was a problem.

It was a problem because Ouma knew why the other boy was quiet because *Momota* was thinking. The reason this was a problem was that Ouma knew that the astronaut was probably thinking about what Monokuma showed them, which was something that he was adding to his constantly growing list of why he hated that bear.

Momota knew about DICE now which was a problem because now the lies that Ouma had been making since he found himself in a locker in an unfamiliar place were slowly unravelling and he did not like it. Ouma needed to think, he needed to figure out how he would lie his way out of this before Momota stopped thinking and started bothering him with ‘wanting to talk' because that was not something that Ouma wanted to do, he hadn't even wanted the others to even know about him let alone talk with him about it.

Actually having someone else here know about DICE and how important they were for him just somehow felt… wrong to him. It was too personal and too important to be talked about or acknowledged in a place like this that thrived on murder. Ouma hated murder more than anything, the thing he loved the most and the thing he hated the most should never mix. So he didn't want anyone here to know about DICE and he definitely didn't want them to talk about his family with him.

The sound of Momota clearing his throat to speak caught Ouma's attention almost as if the other boy had been sensing his thoughts, "…so is all your ‘it's a lie' bullshit your way of saying it's a prank?" Momota asked and Ouma took a few seconds to comprehend what the astronaut just said because of all the ways the other boy could have started this conversation that Ouma really didn't want to have thank-you very much, that had not been one he was expecting.

"…What?" was the only thing that made it's way out of Ouma's mouth and he was slightly ashamed because he was usually better than that but he had no idea what Momota's train of thought had been for this conclusion.

Momota moved his arm to rub the back of his head despite the fact that there was little room to move in the exisal making the movement uncomfortable for both of them but it was a gesture that Momota seemed to do whenever he was thinking or trying to explain a point so Ouma guesses that it was probably habit but hopefully it wouldn't happen too much. With the gesture Momota also began speaking again, "well it's just like that's what you've been doing playing a prank on us, stirring up shit and trying to make us think you're the mastermind right?" Momota asked.

Ouma raised an eyebrow and even though he knew it was a rhetorical question he gave a slight answer, "well that's one way of putting it I guess" and Momota began nodding in confirmation at his hesitant response that was somehow confirming whatever weird train of thought was forming in Momota's head.

"Everything that's happened with this game has been really messed up and a lot of people when they're in fucked up situations or they don't know what to do tend to fall back on any talents that they have…" Momota observed and Ouma narrowed his eyes, he wasn't sure if he liked where this was going. "And you're talent is playing pranks on people I guess" 

"There's a little more to it than that-" Ouma began but Momota continued talking as if Ouma hadn't spoken at all.

"You're like the Super High School Level Prankster" Momota stated as if he had just solved an incredibly complex puzzle and honestly Ouma wouldn't be surprised if his mouth was hanging open right now at the sheer ridiculousness of the conversation.

"No, I'm a supreme leader, I'm in charge of people, I have minions and I make evil plots-" Ouma began to correct but Momota just seemed to disregard everything that he was saying.

"Right you have a prank squad,"

"My secret evil organization!" Ouma protested and Momota finally paused to consider his words but the look he gave Ouma was enough to make his face heat up with anger and embarrassment. It was the look that someone would give a child who was making a fuss about something they knew they shouldn't make a fuss about.

Ouma wondered if there was enough room in the exisal for him to give Momota a solid punch in the face.

Momota rubbed the back of his head again and Ouma found himself pushing himself to wall of his side of the exisal to avoid getting hit by the stray limb while Momota spoke again "but the thing is I don't know if it happened during the game or a bit before but your pranks started to become like, asshole pranks you know? A prank is supposed to be fun for everyone involved even if it confuses the shit out of you so if someone gets hurt or really upset then it's not really a good prank,"

Momota paused at whatever point he was making and looked at Ouma as if he was expecting him to reply or make some point about what he just said but Ouma just remained silent. It wasn't as though he could really say anything, everything the other boy had said about pranking had been right more or less back when Ouma was with DICE, if they existed he would have never thought of acting the way he had in the game. But wasn't that the point? To be someone so unlikable and untrustworthy he'd never get close enough to someone for them to betray him and later this ideology aided him in pretending to be the mastermind. Though the things Saihara had said after Gonta's trial still stung.

Momota seemed to nod as if Ouma had actually answered his question, or maybe he could tell what Ouma was thinking who even knew with the astronaut at this point but whatever answer Momota received however he got it must have been the right one because the other boy immediately grinned and pounded his fists together, ignoring Ouma's complaint at the other boy to stop moving around so much announcing in that anime shounen protagonist voice Momota had "all right then it's decided!"

Ouma tried to ignore the feeling of dread that began creeping inside him as he asked, "what's decided?" as Momota gave him a reassuring thumbs up that did not feel reassuring, to Ouma at least.

"Once this trial is over and we beat Monokuma you're going to have to work hard to make it up to everyone for all the shit you put us through, honestly I'm still kind of pissed off at you so your gonna really have to work your ass off" Momota declared and Ouma was surprised he was even able to comprehend what the other boy was saying because nothing Momota was saying made any sense.

"Wait a minute I-" Ouma began to protest when suddenly a chime rang out interrupting him.

*Ding dong, dong ding…*

"Upupup… It's about that time. That's right! It's time for a class trial, where hope and despair meet head-on! Please proceed to the Shrine of Judgment in the courtyard, and head to the trial grounds. Everyone needs to be there, got it!? Anyone who is absent will be swiftly and permanently punished! Ah-hahahahaha! I wonder what kind of despair awaits you this time?"

At the end of the announcement, a silence hung over the two boys for a brief second before Momota broke it "everyone needs to be there huh? You think he was talking to us?" Momota asked as Ouma began biting his thumbnail to think.

"Obviously," was the only reply Ouma felt he should give while he thought over Monokuma's words, hope? Despair? Why did it sound like Monokuma was highlighting those words? Hadn't Harukawa mentioned something about despair when she was trying to kill him? He couldn't be sure, honestly, at that moment Ouma hadn't been paying as much attention as he should have, he was in a lot of pain from poison and being shot with a crossbow twice. 

"Alright, then we better not keep everyone waiting!" Momota announced derailing Ouma's train of thought and grabbing the controls to push the exisal forward.

Ouma had a feeling thing was going to be a long class trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a very big fan of the theory that Ouma came from the same orphanage Maki did and that's how he knew her real talent. I'm not entirely sure if this chapter is any good but at least it's something.
> 
> Also a couple of people pointed out problems with spelling and grammer in the last chapter and I just want to apologize about that, I have dyslexia so that's always been kind of a problem which is why I'm looking for a Beta Reader (yay) so if anyone wants to do that or wants to recommend someone or has any advice on how to get one I'd love to hear from you.
> 
> Edit: Some one made fanart for this chapter! https://tuxiruo.tumblr.com/post/169088339521/i-dunno-if-this-was-meant-to-be-funny-but-i It is amazing and I love it!


	4. Just Leave It For Your Future Self To Deal With

As the exisal rushed to the Shrine of Judgment with Momota at the controls because the astronaut ‘didn't want to keep everyone waiting', causing Ouma to brace himself due to the speed the exisal was moving Ouma was coming to the conclusion that it was probably for the best if Momota had as little time with the controls of the exisal as humanly possible, in fact, he was wondering if there was any chance he could just convince the astronaut that it would be better for everyone if Momota just sat in the exisal quietly while Ouma handled everything to do with the class trial.

Disregarding the astronaut's feelings on the matter Ouma was pretty confident that he could do a convincing impression of Momota or at the very least better than whatever Momota's impression of Ouma would have been had they been forced to carry out the original plan. 

He nearly shuddered at the thought of whatever Momota would try to say to sound like him, while Ouma would probably be able to give Momota a pretty detailed script to cover a wide range of scenarios he had no doubt that Momota would have had to improvise and he definitely would have said something embarrassing that would have had Ouma glad to be dead because then he wouldn't have to die of embarrassment from whatever Momota said with his voice.

Once again Ouma was very glad he did not actually have to die; while yes, he was prepared to die if it meant dealing a blow against the killing game he still did not actually want to die. Though Harukawa was probably going to kill him as soon as the trial was over regardless, or the mastermind, or Monokuma or literally anyone a lot of people would probably be very happy to see him dead at this point.

But it's fine he *chose* this, Ouma learnt when he was younger that people are just going to reject him no matter what he does so he might as well decide the reason why they reject him and give himself at least some control over the situation.

Not that those reasons really matter; Ouma isn't going to think about how many people want him dead or how many people hate him, one of those people is probably Saihara after everything that happened but it's fine it doesn't hurt him at all. Well, it hurts a little bit but Ouma had decided a while ago that letting himself feel hurt and sad and all that other gross stuff was lame and boring and he had more important things to concentrate on like the coming trial and ending this sick game. 

As much as he would like Momota to just sit quietly and let the plan be carried out Ouma sincerely doubted that even he could ever convince the other boy to ever do that; the words ‘Momota' and ‘quiet' definitely did not go together. Momota was always saying weird things like that nonsense he was spouting before Monokuma announced that it was time for the trial to start, Ouma was still having trouble comprehending that conversation if he was being honest. Usually, Ouma decided that unless it involved an important piece of information he was free to ignore most of the things that came out of his classmate's mouths; he had better things to do like trying to stop the killing game and save everyone's lives but seriously what even was that!? What was he even supposed to do with that!?

Maybe it was probably best for everyone if he just decided that little conversation didn't actually happen? He could do that right? Yeah, he could definitely probably do that. 

And even if he couldn't that would be a problem for future Ouma.

With that thought in mind, Ouma decided it was probably best to focus on the present right now and get Momota to slow down because they couldn't just go down the elevator with their classmates in an exisal! This needed at least a bit of tact, part of Ouma's original plan had taken into account that Momota would probably be a little more careful after killing someone but since no one was actually dead Momota was charging forward with that ‘heroic' attitude of his that made Ouma want to groan internally.

At the moment the exisal was moving incredibly fast which was troublesome because Momota was clearly a terrible driver and Ouma could barely gain his bearings let alone formulate a better strategy for the trial. While he usually liked to act in a certain way, which was a mix of, detailed intricate planning and practically making shit up as he goes along; the planning to give him control over the situation and winging certain things so that he wouldn't be bored he'd like as little surprises as possible while trying to end an evil murder death game.

"Hey calm down for a minute, will you? Geez for someone so slow you sure are fast to rush in all the time" Ouma complained annoyance dripping in his tone trying to get the astronaut's attention while he placed a hand on the wall of his own side of the exisal trying to steady himself as the exisal finally began to slow down to a more reasonable pace. Momota seemed to acknowledge Ouma's discomfort with a raised eyebrow and was about to open his mouth to say something before Ouma saw the opportunity to snatch the controls away from the other boy and steer them slightly away from the direction Momota had been heading towards a space that would give them cover while also being able to have a good view of the courtyard all the while ignoring the other boys protests.

"Hey what do you think you're doing!?" Momota asked annoyance and confusion dripping into his own voice as Ouma rolled his eyes.

"We can't just wait at the Shrine of Judgment for the others that would ruin the fun of the big reveal!" He said as enthusiastically as he could and suddenly Momota was rolling his eyes at him, which was a bit uncalled for considering Momota was the one making everything complicated.

"Are you serious?" Momota asked as Ouma nodded his head excitedly.

"Of course I am! I mean if you want to squish everyone in the elevator by trying to fit an entire exisal in with them then sure we could do that but that would mean squishing my beloved Shuichi and I don't think my heart could take that," Ouma said as he forced his eyes to tear up. "You're so mean Kaito! Not only are you trying to squish me in here but you want to squish everyone else!" Ouma was about to burst into tears when Momota shoving him to the wall of the exisal interrupted his little performance.

"Shut up will you!" Momota said looking slightly exasperated shaking his head. "No one's squishing anyone! And I'm definitely trying not to squish you, we both know that there's barely enough room in here for one person let alone two!"

Ouma puffed up his cheeks to make himself look frustrated though that frustration was not a complete lie "it's your fault for being so big Kaito there was plenty of room when I tried being in the exisal all by my self!" Ouma protested causing Momota to let out a slightly amused snort.

"Well not everyone can be as fucking tiny as you man," Momota told him ignoring the annoyed look on Ouma's face.

"I'm not short! You're all just weirdly tall!" Ouma protested as Momota let out the most genuine laugh he had ever heard the other boy make, though to be fair Ouma hadn't really heard many of his classmates properly laugh in his presence since the killing game started.

"Sorry to break it to you but you're freaking tiny when I first met you I thought for a sec that you might actually be an elementary school kid or something."

Ouma felt his face grow hot in embarrassment as one of his eyebrows twitched in annoyance and was about to make a comeback or something when a third voice from outside the exisal caused them to both to freeze.

"Hey what do you think you're doing?! Didn't you hear my announcement the trial is starting!" Monokuma told them looking sufficiently pissed off for an animatronic bear "If you don't hurry up I'll be forced to punish you got it!?" Monokuma told them brandishing a claw at them.

"What can you really do? You don't have the exisals anymore," Momota asked into the microphone nearly giving Ouma a heart attack. Quickly moving to elbow Momota in the ribs to get him to stop talking while Ouma covered the microphone with his hand.

"What do you think you're doing!?" He hissed at Momota while Monokuma glared at the exisal.

"Oh, I can do a lot believe me," Monokuma threatened.

Ouma took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves before speaking into the microphone "Nishishi, of course, you can Monokuma you're the headmaster, after all, you can do all sorts of thing!"

"You bet I can Kokichi and you better remember that you're skating on thin ice after trying to usurp me!" Monokuma threatened "and there are piranhas swimming in the water underneath that ice!"

"Wow, I didn't know piranhas could survive in ice water!" Ouma said excitedly before letting his voice drip with something more sinister "but technically I didn't break any rules riiiiiight? So that means you can't punish me"

There was a moment of silence as Monokuma glared at the exisal almost as though he wanted to rip it open and throttle him. Ouma tried not to let it get to him since he knew that a lot of people would like to strangle him in some kind of way. The bruises on his neck from what he was calling the many Harukawa incidents were proof enough of that.

Suddenly Monokuma started laughing hysterically as if the bear had just heard the funniest joke in the world, the contrast between going from glaring at the exisal to laugh almost shocked Ouma and he idly wondered if that was how people felt when he suddenly changed moods going from crying to overly cheerful.

"Upupup…. Upupup upupupupu! You might not have broken any rules but I can punish you all I want when you're chosen as the blackened!" Monokuma declared and Ouma found himself grimacing along with Momota as they listened to Monokuma's sickening laughter before the bear paused once again looking annoyed "or I could punish you now for refusing to participate in a class trial so get moving!"

"And ruin my big reveal?" Ouma said jokingly before switching to a more serious manner, "come on you can barley recognize Kaito's body this is a special trial, a trial where the victim is completely unknown! …. Well except to everyone here, you do know who the victim is after all" Ouma tried to make him comment sound nonchalant but he would definitely be lying if he said he didn't enjoy taking a little stab at the bear. 

"Of course I know who the victim is! I can't have a fair class trail if I don't know everything about the case!" Monokuma said looking proud but it was easy for Ouma to spot the obvious lie "Your classmates are already in the elevator on their way to the trial but I agree with you that this trial needs to be exciting and I'd do anything to make this game more interesting for you all, an exciting game keeps everyone happy and we all know that everyone wants this killing game to be entertaining! You can watch on one of the monitors until you get your cue but once you do you better not keep me waiting got it!? That would just be rude." And after telling them that Monokuma left while laughing, Ouma took a moment to sigh with relief for getting through another encounter with that awful bear relishing the few moments of silence when Momota's voice suddenly rang out.

"Why the hell do you keep elbowing me?"

It was not Ouma's proudest moment but with his focus on Monokuma, he had briefly forgotten that the other boy was there so hearing another voice in the exisal caused him to jump in shock before he could realize what he was doing and bump his head on the top of his exisal.

"Don't say a word," he hissed rubbing the top of his head while he glared at Momota who looked as though he was trying to hold back from laughing.

"I didn't say anything,"

"But you were thinking it!" Ouma hissed in annoyance before trying to calm down, he was better than this he can't let himself get emotional. Not when he was so close to actually stopping this game. Taking a breath Ouma decided to calm down by doing something that he enjoyed.

Making fun of Momota.

"Well as for your question Kaito," Ouma said taking back control of the conversation "I keep elbowing you because you're a big dummy who can't keep his mouth shut!" Ouma declared pointing his finger at the astronaut who spluttered in exasperation in response to his declaration.

Ouma let out his signature laugh before continuing "I mean I should be doing most of the talking here since I have more experience lying what with me being a liar and all," Ouma explained as Momota rolled his eyes. It looked like the other boy was about to say something when the monitor suddenly sprung to life showing the class trail.

It was slightly weird seeing the monitor being used for something other than announcements.

"It's starting," Momota muttered quietly making Ouma sure that the astronaut was saying it more to himself than Ouma and Ouma noticed he was clenching his fist. He didn't blame Momota for being nervous, honestly, Ouma was a bit nervous himself but then again who wouldn't be? At least it showed that the other boy had at least a bit of common sense somewhere.

"Nishishi, you don't have to worry about a thing Kaito my plans a practically full proof and the fact that there's even a class trial at all means that we've already got Monokuma right where we want him! You just leave everything to me." Ouma boasted; it wasn't as though he wanted to reassure Momota or anything he just didn't want any uncertainty ruining the plan.

Momota suddenly had a look in his eyes that Ouma couldn't quite place before he grinned and put his fists together "Sorry but I can't leave everything to you I've got to do my part as well! After all, I'm Kaito Momota luminary of the stars! I've got to pull my own weight!" Momota declared before giving him a thumbs up "now let's end this killing game Kokichi!"

Ouma found himself rolling his eyes and turned his attention to the footage of the trial room only to meet the sight of Harukawa bearing the most murderous look he had ever seen her with which was saying something considering she's tried to kill him five times already.

"What happened to Kokichi? Why isn't he here?" Harukawa asked and Ouma had to repress the shiver trying to crawl down his spine though he was unable to stop the nervous laughter from slipping out of his mouth.

"Ah, do me a favour and stop her from killing me later please," Ouma told Momota half joking, half completely serious though Momota had a serious look on his own face.

"Maki roll isn't going to kill anybody, she isn't that kind of person!" Momota declared and had this been any other time Ouma would have gone on a rant on how Harukawa was a *assassin* but at that moment Ouma was absolutely speechless that Momota could still say things like that, all Ouma could do was make a gesture around him emphasizing their current predicament which only happened because Harukawa *had* tried to kill someone.

Momota seemed to understand what Ouma was signifying and simply scratched the back of his head "that's different, you said it yourself she was being manipulated by the mastermind." Ouma rolled his eyes and didn't bother trying to suppress a groan.

"Geez, you let her get away with everything! I wish someone defended me like that!" Ouma whined trying to fall back into one of his acts.

"Well maybe after you start trying to make it up to everyone they will," Momota suddenly said causing Ouma to freeze as the other boy kept on talking "Maki-roll, Shuichi and everyone else are always working hard to improve themselves that's why I know I can believe in them so you should work hard to try and improve yourself as well," Momota said and Ouma had no idea how to respond to anything Momota was saying because there was no logic what so ever to it.

"Whatever!" Ouma said with a huff, trying to ignore Momota until things started making sense again "you should be quiet we need to pay attention to the trial so we don't miss our cue!" Ouma said sounding like a child even though this time he didn't fully intend to.

For some reason, Momota let out a slightly amused huff but Ouma chose to ignore that in favour of watching the class trial happening on the monitor. Just as Ouma had predicted everyone seemed to be convinced that Momota was the victim and the one voice of reason was Saihara who found the clues he and Momota had left to make them question the identity of the victim though the detective pointing out those clues might as well have been useless because the others all decided that Ouma was the suspect regardless.

Knowing where this what going Ouma moved the exisal into the elevator to go down to the trail room causing Momota to give him a surprised and questioning look as the elevator moved down, "hey what are you doing we haven't gotten our cue yet" Momota said just before Monokuma's voice rang out in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Hey, Mister Suspect! That's your cue!"

"Sh-Shut up," Momota muttered as Ouma gave him a sly smile before batting his eyes innocently at the astronaut.

"I didn't say anything," 

"But you were thinking it" Momota muttered as the elevator doors opened. Ouma prepared to move the exisal when Momota suddenly grabbed the controls, he ignored the others exclaims of shock at an exisal being in the trial room as he tried to get back the controls but couldn't or else he would risk Momota being able to put him into a headlock.

"What are you doing?" Ouma asked as he tried shoving Momota who pushed back against him easily and spoke into the microphone.

"Haha, whoops! My bad. Seems like I gave you guys a scare, huh?" Momota said reassuringly to the others completely ignoring the plan on how Ouma told him to open the class trial.

"God damn it Kaito!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this chapter took so long I had assignments and exams so I've been busy with that instead of writing. Classes are starting up again but I'll try to write when I can, next chapter we have the actual trial which I'm a bit nervous about because that's when things start really changing but I'll try to do my best. I've got a Beta now but I'm still working things out with them so this chapter is currently hasn't been 'betaed'
> 
> Also I like to think that the reason Momota greeted everyone first in the chapter 5 trial was he just wanted to reassure them in some way before messing with them as per Ouma's plan. Also I'm worried that I'm writing Momota a little too forgiving towards Ouma but I like to see it as he's still pissed as hell towards Ouma but he's starting to figure him out which is giving him a sort of plan to try and push Ouma into what he sees as the 'right direction'


	5. You really shouldn't worry about the future when you have no idea what's going on in the present

There was a small beat of silence throughout the courtroom after Momota's decision to speak into the microphone; shock clear on everyone's faces. Ouma himself was also part of that shock but for a completely different reason than the others. While they were shocked because they believed Momota was the victim of the class trial being held yet was currently speaking to them, Ouma was shocked because Momota for some reason had decided to act on his own despite Ouma telling him *not* to when informing the other boy on how the trial should go.

Funnily enough the first person to act after that brief moment of shock froze them all was Kiibo, the weird, useless robot who was probably some kind of unknowing mole for the mastermind; Ouma was at least 90 percent sure that the mastermind or Monokuma or the people behind this sick game were somehow keeping tabs on them through the walking talking machine.

Kiibo's ‘inner voice' was definitely suspicious as well.

"Is that… Kaito's voice?" Kiibo asked as if prompting everyone to unfreeze and start reacting, Ouma himself took the opportunity to try and get the controls of the exisal back while Momota fended him off.

"…Kaito" a hesitant and shocked voice said in disbelief that caused a moment of hesitation in both Ouma and Momota. Ouma didn't even have to check that it was Harukawa; Momota's grip tightening on the controls was proof enough of that. Out of everyone, Harukawa was probably the most shocked when Momota spoke considering the assassin thought that she was the one responsible for the astronaut's death.

The look of horror that Harukawa had when Ouma had stolen the antidote in the hanger almost made Ouma feel sorry for her, but then he remembered that she was an awful murder girl who had shot two people with poison arrows that were probably going to affect their health for the rest of their lives even if they weren't going to die and any thoughts of feeling sorry for Harukawa went out like a light.

"Kaito I swear if you blow this before we've even started just because you don't want Maki to feel bad I'm going to-" Ouma said beginning to make an empty threat since no matter what he said he wasn't really going to do anything, he couldn't really do anything anyway but he felt it was important that someone know he was not happy with a certain course of action. Regardless of how he felt, however, he never got to finish his complaint disguised as a threat due to Momota shoving him into the side of the exisal and cutting Ouma off before speaking into the microphone.

"There was a lot going on, so I just hid in an Exisal and kinda dozed off," Momota spoke into the microphone with a tone that was a mix of joking and reassuring as Ouma struggled to take the microphone away from the other boy despite the fact that Momota was still keeping him pressed to the side of the exisal wall. "Haha, and that's why I'm so late! Anyway, what's going on guys?"

"You can't actually be serious!" Ouma hissed still struggling to get free, "you can't actually believe that will work. There is absolutely no way any of them would believe that!" he certainly hoped that they wouldn't believe that. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Ouma liked to believe that his classmates were smart enough to take care of themselves on some level.

"H-hold on then the one who died wasn't Kaito but Kokichi!?" Shirogane exclaimed in shock causing Ouma to seriously consider banging his head on the wall of the exisal in frustration, he nearly died and left the responsibly of uncovering the school's secrets and ending the killing game to these people.

"…It can't be… Kaito?" Harukawa asked looking hopeful and nearly on the verge of tears which is when Ouma decided that he definitely needed to get the controls back or at least away from Momota or the whole plan would be going out the window with the astronaut's weird incessant need to comfort everyone around him.

While he started shoving against Momota and pushing the other boys face away from the microphone Ouma made sure to carefully watch everyone's reactions through the screen inside the exisal to see who would make what move, if everything was going according to plan the mastermind hiding among his classmates had no idea who actually ‘died' and would want to use the class trial to find out who was actually in the exisal. Ouma needed to see exactly who would act more desperate than usual when looking for the culprit. Though this was still a class trial and the others still believed their lives were on the line so everyone would be acting in at least some level of desperation when looking for the truth.

Saihara was looking at the exisal thoughtfully and Ouma tried not to be nervous, while he usually loved watching the detective figure everything out, this trial he was desperately hoping that Saihara wouldn't ruin everything he had worked so hard on.

Huh? This must be something close to what the blackened of other trials felt.

Well, the blackened apart from maybe Akamatsu who wanted on some level to be discovered and … Gonta who didn't even know he was the blackened. Who didn't even remember to agreeing to their plan. Who might have only agreed to kill Iruma due to a weird computer error…

Maybe Saihara had already ruined a trial for Ouma, maybe things would have been better if he actually was chosen as the blackened and what happened in the virtual world never came to light…

Or maybe he should have just let Iruma kill him.

Shaking his head and swallowing down the bile and guilt he could feel rising in his throat Ouma threw his attention into his little scuffle with Momota barely paying attention to what was going on in the trial. This wasn't the time to think about that, Ouma had accepted that he was basically a cowered clinging to life through tricks, desperation and flat out luck but the least he could do with all that life earned through his cowardice is try and end this killing game once and for all for everyone who had already died.

He had to end this killing game. He had to. That must be the reason why he was still alive despite so many others having died. Others who were so much better than him: Akamatsu, Amami, Hoshi, Tojo, Yonaga, Chabashira, … Iruma … Gonta … there had to be a reason. There just had to!

He had to end this killing game.

And afterwards… afterwards, he'd leave everyone alone like they always wanted. Maybe he'd try and find out if DICE was real or how much of it was a lie… or maybe he really could try and make up for everything he did to everyone like Momota suggested? If that was even possible, it probably wasn't but for some reason, there was a part of him that wanted to try.

He had no idea where that part had come from or why it was there, but for some reason, it existed.

"Hey, are you okay?" Momota suddenly whispered while keeping a hand over the microphone to ensure that no one else heard dragging Ouma out of his thoughts causing him to mentally curse himself for letting himself get distracted by something that didn't even matter right now. He silently blamed the poison that was coursing through his veins a few hours ago that probably make him weaker in every way for the slip up before turning his attention back to the astronaut who was looking at him curiously.

It was then that Ouma realized that he had stopped focusing on struggling for the controls while he was stuck thinking about useless things which probably tipped the other boy off to, well something.

"I'm fine I'm just thinking about how I can save this from you screwing everything up!" Ouma hissed which wasn't a complete lie though it wasn't exactly the truth either.

To his surprise, Momota gave a slight snort before nodding his head in understanding, which is not the reaction he should be having to Ouma basically insulting him. "You know Kokichi I think one of your problems is you overthink things way too much" Momota explained to him before putting his fists together the way he did whenever he was about to hammer in a point "don't worry! We're gonna get through this trial, beat Monokuma and then you're gonna work your ass off to make up for all the shit you've pulled" Momota declared in an almost joking but reassuring manner while Ouma rushed to cover the microphone because the other boy wasn't even trying to be discreet at that moment.

"Keep your voice down do you really want to ruin everything!?" Ouma hissed almost automatically before realizing what Momota had just said, did the astronaut actually just read him? No, that wasn't possible but Ouma felt as though he had to say something to not let the other boy get any more ideas or see any more weakness from Ouma than he has already shown.

"I was thinking about the trial and how easy it's going to be because no one can figure anything out, nothing else!" Ouma insisted lying through his teeth though a near-death experience must have been affecting his mask more than he thought because Momota didn't seem to buy it in the slightest simply rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

The astronaut looked as though he was about to say something and Ouma felt his face begin to heat up in frustration and embarrassment and before he could even really think he had decided to open his own mouth to say something, anything before the other boy. Momota had been taking control of their conversations far more than he should be for Ouma's comfort.

Ouma wasn't exactly sure if it was fortunate or unfortunate but just as he was about to make a retort at Momota before the other boy could speak a familiar voice from outside of the exisal cut both of them off whatever they had each been planning to say dying on their lips as they both realized they had briefly forgotten about the trial that was taking place.

"… Did you hear me? I asked if that was really you Kaito?" Saihara asked as though the detective was repeating a question which given the fact that Momota had been distracting Ouma from paying attention to the trial Saihara probably was.

The question asked in a strange mix of confidence and uncertainness that Saihara had was enough to spur both Ouma and Momota into action, Momota began to reach for the microphone but Ouma rushed to grab the microphone before him. Momota had been talking way too much and it was time to get everything back on track.

"It's a lie!" Ouma said cheerfully trying to savour the familiar feeling of what was basically his trademark, his catchphrase and enjoy the very much-needed feeling it brought of slight control over the situation.

Ignoring Momota muttering ‘it's a prank' under his breath Ouma manoeuvred the exisal to his own podium in the trial room because he wasn't even going to acknowledge that in the slightest.

"Did you guys really think I died for a second there? Were you sad at the thought of your beloved supreme leader being flattened like a pancake?" Ouma asked rhetorically; sounding as mocking as he could because he already knew the answer was they probably wouldn't give a shit, they might actually have been relieved.

Ouma's grip on the controls tightened as he tried not to think about who he was really mocking with that question the others or himself? Ouma forced himself to watch everyone's surprise at the ‘reveal' of it being actually Ouma in the exisal to ignore the feeling of Momota's gaze on him.

"I thought as much…" Harukawa said as she glared at the exisal with anger and contempt though her demeanour seemed to have reverted more back to her usual self as Ouma being the one in the exisal fit better with the ‘truth' that she had in her mind. "Your appearance right now is fit for a lowly asshole like you."

"Oh don't be angry I thought you'd love to hear Kaito's voice again one last time." Ouma mocked as he watched Harukawa try to hold back a flinch and for a moment Ouma could swear the assassin was considering attempting to attack the exisal to drag him out and kill him right then and there.

"… Is that really you Kokichi!?" Saihara asked in disbelief suspicion dripping from his voice dragging Ouma's attention away from Harukawa and onto the detective, Saihara was either going to inadvertently be a huge help in this trial or tear everything apart.

"Of course it is," Ouma said as sweetly as he could before forcing his eyes to tear up "I can't believe you wouldn't just recognize me from my presence. Whaaaaa! Did our relationship mean nothing to you?" Ouma wailed.

"Who would want a relationship with you!?" Yumeno interrupted him angrily causing Ouma to laugh her off.

"Nishishi, oh there are loads of people! I have to fend my suitors off with a stick." Ouma lied jokingly as if he were bragging while the others in the trial room looked as though they wished they could hit Ouma with a stick of some kind.

"If you're really Kokichi then why are you hiding in there? Show yourself!" Saihara demanded, moments like these where Saihara spoke with confidence seemed to make it obvious that the detective was no longer the person that he had been when he first came to the academy, but then again none of them were really who they were when they first came to the academy. The fact that Ouma had willingly disregarded his own morals for his own survival in the fourth trial was proof enough of that.

"Well I'd love to come out, especially since my beloved Shumai asked me so nicely but the assassin over there would kill me the second I stepped out of this super comfortable exisal" Ouma explained making his voice sound disheartened, though he was technically lying Harukawa was wearing a glare on her face that said that yes, she would definitely kill him the moment he stepped out of the exisal.

"Hey don't be so hard on her!" Momota whispered to him while reaching over and covering the microphone with his hand causing the other boy to be in Ouma's space.

"She shot us. With poisoned arrows." Ouma hissed shoving the astronaut away, his shove seemed to prompt Momota to shove back as they began to fight over the controls before Momota answered.

"I told you that wasn't her fault!"

"Are you serious-!?" Ouma whisper yelled before he was cut off by Kiibo's thoughtful voice causing Ouma to realize that, shit he had let himself be distracted again.

"If that really is Kokichi he most likely wanted to raise our hopes of hearing Kaito again before trying to crush us with despair, that is certainly what a remnant of despair would try," Kiibo muttered thoughtfully before looking strangely optimistic "not that any of us would ever give into despair!" Kiibo finished defiantly.

Momota raised a questioning eyebrow at Ouma who could only shake his head in response because he had no idea what Kiibo was going on about, though the phrase ‘remnant of despair' was oddly similar to the outraged nonsense Harukawa was muttering while she was trying to kill him in her latest murder attempt.

Storing that bit of information away for later Ouma decided to continue on with the trial and see if the phrase would come up again, "Nishishi, ignoring the nonsense of a useless robot," Ouma began grinning slightly to himself as he disregarded Kiibo's protests of ‘robot discrimination' before finally making use of everything he had set up for this trial "I understand how you guys must feel. You couldn't believe it because I'm like this, right? Nishishi… that's what I thought. Which is why I decided to be super nice and bring evidence! Aren't I just the best guys? Aren't I just so helpful?" Ouma teased.

"…Evidence?" Kiibo asked looking suspicious but curious which was good, suspicious but curious was what was going to help Ouma lead this trial where he wanted it.

"Tadaaa! The video camera!" Ouma said excitedly as if he was a little kid presenting a new toy for show and tell, Momota's rolled eyes were definite proof that he was acting childish enough. "It was in the warehouse but I brought it to the hanger, just in case. Definitely, a smart move there, though I already knew I was smarter than the rest of you! But thanks to this I filmed it so everyone could see it clearly" Ouma excitedly began setting up the reveal when Momota suddenly started trying to take the microphone away from him.

"What are you doing?" Ouma asked trying to push the astronaut away though it looked as though they were about to enter a whole new struggle.

"Do you have to act like such a little shit to everyone?" Momota asked causing Ouma to give him an unimpressed look.

"Yes!"

"You little shit!"

"We've already established that's what I am Kaito!" Ouma retorted causing the astronaut to sigh in exasperation and for a second Ouma thought he heard the other boy mutter something along the lines of ‘this one's going to be a lot of work' to himself but he couldn't be sure.

"So we could all see what clearly?" Shirogane asked hesitantly as Ouma snatched the microphone away from Momota's grip.

"The moment the victim died…" Ouma said dramatically and sinisterly ignoring Momota's groan, the other boy had complained that some parts of the plan were too dramatic but Ouma was not going to apologize for a good performance. While the others reacted in shock Ouma made a move to ask Monokuma to connect the camera to the monitor, as always he hated having to ever pretend to be friendly with the damn bear but as always he told himself it was necessary.

The tape was easy enough to create; it was a bit hard to get Momota to willingly lie underneath the press though it did give Ouma a lot of opportunities to make trust exercise jokes; eventually he was able to convince Momota to cooperate, when Momota disappeared from the camera view and Ouma had stopped the camera and the press that had been a moment of relief for them both. He was so worried he would accidentally kill Momota but luckily he didn't and they were able to swap out Momota with blood packs from Yonaga's cult.

Ouma never thought he'd say or think this but thank god for Yonaga's weird student council cult and the fact that she made her lackeys give blood offerings ‘for Atuta' that she kept in a mini fridge in her room. It allowed them to fake a death convincingly after all. The only problem was Momota's arm being in one shot and disappearing in the other but as he predicted everyone was too busy freaking out over viewing Momota's ‘death' to concentrate on the details at the moment.

"Wooooow! Wasn't that amazing do you want to watch it again? Do yay? Do yay?" Ouma asked excitedly, luckily Momota wasn't trying to take the microphone away from him for ‘being a little shit' though Ouma had the distinct impression that was because the excitement he was projecting was probably not showing on his face. It must be odd for the other boy to hear an excited voice come out of a blank face, probably even a little creepy but Ouma was so tired of acting twisted. He was scared that the lies would become true if he continuously kept it up what he did to Iruma and Gonta was proof enough that it was a legitimate concern, so right now though there was no use putting on a full performance where only one person could see it so just making his voice sound how he needed was enough for now.

"By the way… this footage has not been doctored in any way if that's what any of you were thinking. This video camera only has the basic functions… Just the Play, Record, and Pause buttons, so you can't edit after filming it." Ouma explained in a bored tone, "and that's the truth! I didn't edit it at all! I didn't even upload it to a computer to edit it either. Riiiight, Monokuma?" Ouma asked for confirmation because honestly, his classmates would probably be more willing to hear something from that damn bear than him most of the time which while probably, technically his fault was still annoying having to rely on that damn bear for anything.

It was slightly satisfying to watch Monokuma glare at him for being used though.

"Oh, you can talk. Your answer is necessary for a fair discussion." Ouma told the bear, he was definitely acting like a little shit here but both boys seemed to have decided it was okay if it was aimed at that Monokuma.

"I see! If it's necessary for a fair discussion, then I will answer!" Monokuma stated cheerfully though Ouma could easily detect the annoyance and frustration from the bear at not knowing every detail effectively letting those in the exisal lead the trial. "No trace of that footage was found on any of the computers inside the academy!"

"Well, there you go! The fact that the footage is the real deal is the undeniable truth," Ouma stated cheerfully before watching the others with interest to see what conclusion they would draw up.

"If that's the case… then it would seem our suspicions can be lifted. The body we found inside the hanger, crushed in the hydraulic press, is definitely Kaito!" Kiibo noted solemnly. 

All right that was good, there's still a lot they don't know but the path they're on means the plan is going off the way it's supposed to.

"Poor Kaito… I can't believe he died such a horrible death…" Yumeno said shaking and sweating while looking close to crying, before looking as though she was about to throw up her reaction might have been what prompted Momota to try and take the controls away from Ouma once again.

"Hey let me speak now," Momota asked and Ouma was automatically shaking his head and clutching tighter to the controls ignoring what was going on in the trial room because at the moment it just seemed like Yumeno and Shirogane exchanging banter.

"No, we just revealed your death remember!?" Ouma said dismissively before speaking into the microphone "So that should prove it, I'm the one in this exisal" Ouma sinisterly told his classmates while Momota literally started pulling him away from the controls.

"Hey stop it! Look we just convinced them I'm the culprit!" Ouma said pointing at the screen, which showed Kiibo pointing at the exisal in accusation "you speaking would just confuse everyone" he explained pushing the other boy away.

"Didn't you say the point of this damn trial is to confuse the shit out of everyone?" Momota retorted pushing back which led to another round of bickering over the controls while their classmates debated the video none the wiser to what was happening inside the exisal.

"Yep, I'm totally the culprit!" Ouma said sarcastically into the microphone for the split second that he was able to completely hold Momota off. "I decided to participate in this class trial in an exisal after killing Kaito and mostly to protect myself from Miss scary assassin who'd kill her best friends if given a chance-" Ouma began to explain before that last comment earned him an extra strong push from Momota "-but! Also to make things more exciting by making the victim unknown!" he continued clawing his way back to the microphone.

"I took that footage for proof, so I could reveal it after you guys get the correct answer… but I got bored and ended up showing you it right away. But can you blame me it would have taken you guys forever to figure it out!" Ouma whined like a spoilt child before Momota dragged him away from the controls again.

"So does that mean… you admit to the crime?" Shirogane asked a small hint of excitement lined her voice so subtle that it would have been easy to miss causing Ouma to narrow his eyes that was suspicious…

Ouma suddenly jerked out of his thoughts when he realized that Momota was about to take control of the exisal and began to try and push the other boy away from the controls.

"Well? Aren't you going to answer?" Kiibo asked and while Ouma was sure that everyone in the exisal would probably love to answer they were both keeping the other from being able to.

"... Well? say something!" Yumeno asked nervously pulling her hat over her eyes in a nervous habit.

"Are you giving up?" Kiibo inquired curiously though the robot looked thoughtful and suspicious as if giving up what the last thing he believed was going on at the moment. Which was technically right.

"Does that mean it's been decided?" Yumeno asked hopefully which was understandable no one liked class trials even if Ouma pretended to and everyone pretty much wanted them to be over as soon as they started which made what Shirogane said next even more suspicious.

"Is it okay that this trial was so short?" shouldn't she be glad that the trial was over so quickly? Unless…

Ouma nearly elbowed Momota in the face while the gears began to turn in his head while Harukawa spoke almost dismissively though unlike Yumeno and all the others Harukawa probably had a special reason for wanting to end the trial as soon as possible, awful reasons that probably involved Ouma's death but still reasons. "That's fine. We knew from the very start that Kokichi was the killer." Harukawa began turning towards the exisal.

Ouma watches out of the corner of his eye at the courtroom being shown on the screen inside the exisal that he and Momota are currently crammed into while he and Momota bicker and fight over the controls Harukawa glares at the Exisal with both hate and determination in her eyes "Before we vote, I want to say something to Kokichi... You may be the mastermind but I won't let you escape after you violated the rules. That would desecrate the killing game Junko Enoshima created, right?"

"... Your beloved Junko Enoshima."

At Harukawa's words both Ouma and Momota freeze, Momota stops pulling the back of Ouma's shirt and Ouma stops elbowing Momota's ribs. They stare at each other in confusion for a few moments before Momota finally asks the very question running through Ouma's mind "Dude, who the fuck is Junko Enoshima?"  
And all Ouma can do is shrug because honestly, he has no fucking clue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait but I did it! Finally made it to the scene from the summary! When I first started this fic I wrote two scenes out in advance the summary scene and Ouma's audition video so I'm happy I got to use one. Sorry for the wait but this chapter is longer than usual so it took a while. I hope I'm handling the trial alright I'm really excited for the next chapter because it can basically be summarized as Ouma and Momota finally stop bickering because they're too busy panicking over having no idea over what's going on.


	6. No Idea Who She Is But I Already Hate Her

Harukawa had a habit of ruining things for him; a fact that Ouma had accepted a long time ago. He especially believes this fact since events in the killing game started and had practically forced it down his throat. Up until this point, the biggest problem with this plan was probably the fact that there was not nearly enough space in the exisal. A fact, which was practically begging to cause Ouma and Momota to bicker and fight over the controls.

Regardless of the space issues though they still had a plan they were working towards and the trial had been going well, everyone acting more or less how he expected them to and for a brief moment, he believed that this plan really was going to work. That he had managed to get Monokuma in check and that there was a real chance that he could actually end this killing game.

Then Harukawa opened her mouth and threw everything that he had worked for and planned out the window.

"What do you mean you have no idea who that is!?" Momota asked in what looked like a mixture of shock and frustration, the astronaut not even bothering to control his volume making Ouma especially grateful that he had the foresight to temporarily turn the microphone off when he informed Momota in a way that was in no way panicked that he had no idea who the hell this ‘Junko Enoshima' that Harukawa mentioned was.

"I mean I don't know! Weren't you listening to me? Geez!" Ouma complained in frustration face turning serious as he bit his thumb in thought as he did when he was working through a particularly difficult problem. It wasn't a habit that he enjoyed especially since Harukawa seemed to have the same habit and Ouma would like to keep his similarities with her to as minimum as possible but at this exact moment he was having a hard time caring about something as trivial as a concern as that.

Harukawa had mentioned a name and the way she said it as if it was the most vial word imaginable made him think it was important. But if this ‘Junko Enoshima' was so important then why the hell did Ouma have nothing on her? He had practically searched this hellhole of an academy from top to bottom and this was the first time he had ever heard of this chick.

It was a bit late in the game to bring someone important in, wasn't it? Also if she was important wouldn't they leave clues about her before now? It was almost enough to make Ouma want to dismiss this mystery person as unimportant to the current situation and simply something for him to figure out later but the look on Harukawa's face told him that he'd regret not finding out what was so important about ‘Enoshima'.

"So what do we do? If you don't know who this Junko girl is should we just ignore it?" Momota asked and that was a reasonable question though it still made Ouma want to sigh dramatically and make fun of Momota for asking boring questions but now wasn't the time for that. 

Later, he'd make fun of Momota later.

"I think… we should play along for now," Ouma said feeling determination rise up in him, not yet, he wasn't done yet. After the first trial when the first two lives were lost Ouma had sworn he would figure out what the hell was going on and put a stop to it saving as many people as he could. He'd given up so much for that goal, he'd thrown away practically all his morals and has gotten injured and nearly killed too many times in these past few weeks for him to ever let up on that goal.

"I'm guessing that ‘Junko Enoshima' is somehow important to the real mastermind of this killing game, the question is though how? Right now though they all think yours truly is the mastermind because they're all gullible and easy to trick," Ouma began to explain adding some joking towards the end, he knew it probably wasn't the best time for any messing around, no it definitely wasn't but joking around and pretending what was bothering him didn't affect him was what he did. He couldn't exactly turn off that part of his personality and right now he was very bothered because it felt as though there was always an unseen hand revealing themselves whenever he had victory within his reach and snatching it away from him.

It made him feel helpless in a lot of ways, Ouma wasn't really the kind of person to honestly express his feelings especially the negative ones the closest he'd been to saying what he really felt during this killing game were just before Gonta's execution and when he thought he had to convince Momota to kill him.

Neither was exactly fun memories for Ouma.

So if he wanted to take a little jab at everyone else while he was figuring out what to do about a name drop for someone he didn't know that probably had a lot to do with the reason Harukawa shot him with poison that made his blood feel like fire, he should and Momota shoving him into the side of the exisal when Ouma made said jab was completely uncalled for.

"Quit messing around," Momota said before rubbing the back of his head, the motion looking awkward due to the small amount of space inside the exisal. "So what you're saying is that if we play along we might find out more about this Junko girl and the mastermind?" Momota asked trying to get some confirmation on their next step causing Ouma to grin.

"Look at you! You can use your head if you try, I'm so proud" Ouma joked and felt his grin widen has Momota spluttered angrily. All right he lied, there was always time to make fun of Momota.

"Are you trying to piss me off?" Momota asked looking very frustrated and Ouma gasped dramatically in response.

"I'm offended you would think I'd do such a thing!" Ouma replied in an over exaggerated offended tone. This is what he needed to mess around and feel in control, he could do this, he could do this. Figuring out who Junko Enoshima was would be simple and hopefully,, she'd be no one too important and the plan would go smoothly.

Ouma tried to ignore the ominous feeling in his gut that told him things were never that easy for him before flipping the switch for the microphone back on, "now shush!" he hissed at Momota turning his attention back to the trial before him trying to see what had been happening with the others while he and Momota had that little strategy meeting.

"I don't understand why you want to keep on talking, it's clearly been decided" Harukawa said in a dismissive tone looking annoyed and frustrated which Ouma guessed he could understand considering her constant desire to kill him or see him dead, as far as the assassin was concerned delaying a vote just means prolonging the life of someone she tried to kill with her own two hands.

Of course, it was Saihara that was actually using his brain right now and didn't want to rush the vote, god you'd think these people would learn by now that rushing the vote in this game was just asking for death. Of course in this particular trial voting as soon as possible meant he'd be able to call Monokuma out as soon as possible and end the game but that also meant he wouldn't find out what information he was missing so he had to encourage keeping the trial going somehow.

"I'm telling you guys something about this is isn't right!" Saihara declared and it looked like he had been repeating himself for a while, Ouma felt himself hold back a sigh of relief that he didn't miss anything too important as he watched Saihara continue "The culprit comes in, confesses to the crime, and the trial ends? That's not how this goes! That doesn't sound like the kind of game Kokichi or Monokuma or Junko would play!"

At this point, Ouma decided it was probably best for him to speak up especially since the ‘Junko' girl was brought up again and he needed to find out what was going on with her "Awe Shuichi thinks he knows me so well doesn't he?" Ouma said in a mocking tone catching the attention of the others in the trial room who looked as though they were hoping he would stay quiet.

"What you're talking again?" Harukawa muttered in an annoyed tone and Ouma felt a smirk forming on his face as he thought up how best to piss her off this time, maybe getting enjoyment out of pissing off an assassin wasn't the best thing for him to do survival wise but he had already lived way longer than he had ever expected so at this point it was go big or go home.

"Oh, Maki did you miss the sound of my voice?" Ouma asked as Harukawa's glare increased in the intensity of its hatred as he continued "well I know me being quiet is the last thing anyone wants but I was just so shocked at you mentioning my beloved's name and in front of Shuichi no less are you trying to make him jealous?" Ouma watched as the others began to have a slightly disgusted look on their faces as Momota leaned in to cover up the microphone so the two of them could speak.

"Geez they look really angry just at the mention of her, what the hell did this Junko chick even do?" Momota asked as Ouma shrugged since he didn't know the answer to that though if he tried he could probably make a few guesses, still he didn't know the answer to a lot of things lately and it was really starting to bother him.

"Maki mentioned her in relation to something to do the creation of the killing game and I suspect ours might not be the first killing game to be held so maybe she was a mastermind of a previous game?" Ouma guessed though really he was grasping at straws here, she might have been part of the games he suspected Amami might have participated in but if that was the case why were they bringing her up now she shouldn't be relevant anymore.

"Hold on you mean they've forced people to kill each other before!?" Momota hissed in surprise and anger and Ouma found himself smiling dryly, he could understand the shock the astronaut was having and his respect for the other boy actually grew slightly at Momota's presence of mind to try and control the volume of his voice. The fact that this mutual killing game had happened once was already messed up enough the idea that this wasn't the first time teenagers had been locked inside a school and forced to kill one another was beyond horrifying.

Ouma nodded to Momota's question while the other boy clenched his fist trying to control his anger, honestly Ouma had no idea why he even said his thoughts out loud about the possibility of more killing games than theirs just then; it would have done nothing other than make Momota upset and cloud the astronaut's judgment making this trial even harder and more complicated than it already was with Momota's ‘heroic sense of justice' trying to take the drivers seat. Did he want to bounce ideas off someone? No that couldn't be right Ouma had discovered pretty quickly that not many people really got his way of thinking that's what made everyone at DICE so special and amazing.

He wasn't really lying when he said that his organization had over 10,000 members it's just that each one of his subordinates were worth over 1,000 people is all.

Maybe Ouma being just as in the dark about who Junko Enoshima was as Momota made him more willing to share or work with the other boy or maybe all the stress and guilt and lack of sleep combined with the frustration that he felt like he wasn't getting anywhere was cracking Ouma's mask. He sure hoped it wasn't that last one though because he really couldn't afford to let his mask crack so late in the game.

But then again after this trial would there even be a point to it any more?

"Whoever this Junko chick is she sounds like a bitch," Momota commented bringing Ouma out of his thoughts. Ouma tried to collect himself internally reprimanding himself for getting distracted forcing his attention back on the trial.

Though as he watched Saihara explain why he thought there was more to the trial, Ouma thought back to Momota's comment about the mysterious person who was an unknown variable that could potentially throw the only cards he had left out the window and found himself agreeing with the astronaut's statement.

Ouma had no idea who Junko Enoshima was or what she even had to do with all of this but considering all he knew about her was that she was her very name was causing nothing but problems for him he could wholeheartedly say that Junko Enoshima was probably a bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I've just been distracted with a new fic any way Momota and Ouma have got a plan of attack which is basically fake it until you make it and here we see Ouma feel a little closer to his classmates because he has no idea what's going on an important step. Also the theme of this chapter was dramatic irony.


	7. What do you mean she doesn't stay dead?

Despite his best efforts to not let the killing game affect him Ouma knew it had, the game had affected him the moment that first body discovery announcement played and he saw Amami with his head bashed in, in the library. Ouma didn't want this game to affect him, he didn't want this game to change him but it did. Everyone involved in this killing, everyone still alive they'd been undeniably affected, they'd all been undeniably changed.

It made sense how could they not change when people were dying? But still, some people had changed for the worse like Akamatsu and Tojo who ended up resorting to murder, like Ouma himself who ended up sacrificing two lives just to prolong his own… while others had changed for the better like Yumeno and Saihara.

As Ouma watched Saihara and Harukawa argue on whether Ouma had an ulterior motive for the trial, which he did, point to Saihara for that observation. Ouma found himself trying to fight down a grim smile at the thought of how much Saihara had changed from the quiet detective that hid behind a hat and followed Akamatsu around like a puppy that Ouma had met at the start of this nightmare.

"Trap us? Are you saying Kokichi isn't the culprit?" Harukawa asked with what was likely fake disbelief to Saihara's claim that Ouma was trying to trap them. Ouma couldn't help but find the words ironic considering at the moment Harukawa currently thought that she was the culprit and was currently trying to trap all of them just to kill him. Momota would probably argue that Harukawa was also one of the people that had grown and changed for the better in the killing game but that was just wishful thinking, the arrow wound in his back and the fact that Harukawa was still trying to kill him even if it meant using the class trail to do it was proof she hadn't really changed.

Harukawa was still the same assassin she always was focused on nothing but killing her target, Momota just said she'd changed because the astronaut wanted to believe he could change her and everyone else was willing to act like she'd changed simply because Momota said so and they'd rather put their faith in a dying hero than think for themselves.

Ouma was a liar he knew that words meant very little, it was one thing to say Harukawa had changed but another thing entirely for the assassin to actually change. It was probably one of the reasons Harukawa wanted Ouma dead so much, he was the only one here not willing to go along with whatever she wanted without batting an eye.

Whatever, he wondered if it really mattered anymore. Ouma had always resented Harukawa for choosing to be an assassin but was he any better? When it came down to it he'd been willing to sacrifice lives for his own ends just like her.

"Then, are you suggesting one of us is the culprit?" Harukawa accused causing Ouma to raise an eyebrow, it was a smart move on Harukawa's part since the detective had always been afraid of conflict but Saihara had grown enough that something as small as that wasn't going to stop the detective's pursuit of truth.

"Oh, there's an idea!" Ouma said into the microphone with a grin, as Harukawa glared at him, unfortunately for the assassin looks couldn't actually kill, otherwise he would have been the first to die.

"Shut up," Harukawa threatened her glare darkening and beside him, Momota clenched his fist no doubt the astronaut was thinking about how Harukawa was ‘hurting' right now and wanted to ‘comfort' her or something ridiculous like that.

"I'm not letting you use the mic," Ouma said offhandedly to Momota before the other boy could ask before speaking into the microphone himself to address the rest of his classmates "don't be so mean Maki it was you and Shuichi that suggested it after all," Ouma half whined half teased ignoring Momota's spluttering.

Before Ouma could continue to push the point and hopefully get the others riled up enough to reveal something about the Junko Enoshima chick Momota covered the microphone causing Ouma to frown at the other boy in frustration and annoyance.

"What are you doing?" Ouma hissed while Momota gave him a glare of frustration of his own.

"What am I doing? What are you doing? I didn't even ask to use the mic are you just trying to piss me off?" Momota hissed in return and Ouma gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes causing Momota's frown of frustration to deepen further.

"You hadn't asked yet but you were going to, I can't give you the mic every time Maki looks like she's going to be slightly emotional just because she's your girlfriend you know" Ouma stated and had to fight back a smile as Momota started back, any other time he might have been curious at what Momota would splutter out in response to that but Saihara's voice stopped them both and reminded them that there were more important things here to focus on.

"What are you talking about?" Saihara asked the exisal in frustration and suspicion while Ouma forcefully pried Momota's hand away from the microphone to respond.

"Oh nothing much, just the possibility that one of you is a dirty little liar is all," Ouma responded with a bored tone of voice. Everyone was a liar in some shape or form though; there wasn't a single person in existence that hasn't told a lie at least once in their life. 

Saihara looked at the exisal with a disbelieving expression while Kiibo spoke up with a worried one, "If it's not Kokichi, then the culprit must be one of us…" 

"One of us?" Yumeno parroted looking incredibly uncomfortable and more and more disturbed.

"That's not possible!" Shirogane exclaimed in dismay as Saihara began to look taken aback and defensive.

"No, I didn't say that! I was just saying it's dangerous to trust Kokichi-" Saihara defended trying to calm everyone down only for Ouma to interrupt him, this was a good opportunity that he shouldn't let pass. Thanks to Harukawa's defensiveness the idea that someone else might be the culprit had been set and if nothing was done all the others would begin to rush to defend themselves and accuse others. It was times like these that proved just how vital people like Akamatsu and Saihara who could move things forward were for these class trials; if there wasn't someone actively working to sort through the statements and organize the information a class trial could easily devolve into a blame game of everyone throwing accusations back and forth.

Right now though was beneficial because when everyone was on the defensive that also meant they were more likely to let something slip, it was much easier to get information out of people when they were trying to say anything to get out of suspicion that they could no longer keep their own lies straight. When someone was on the defensive that also meant they weren't trying to find information from you as well too preoccupied with what they knew, to care about what you knew which meant this was the perfect opportunity to find out more about this mystery Junko girl Harukawa mentioned without revealing he had absolutely no fucking clue who that was.

"That's right how can you all be doubting each other quickly poor Kaito would be rolling in his grave if he saw you all arguing like this," Ouma teased, wearily eyeing Momota in case the other boy decided to shove him again but luckily he only grumbled and coughed slightly. That was worrying but Ouma knew that Momota had had worse coughing fits so, for now, he should just focus on the trial.

That's what he should do. That's what he needed to do, Momota would be fine and anyway he can always make sure to keep tabs on the astronaut at the corner of his eye, it would be easy to keep an eye on Momota anyway they since they were both stuffed inside this exisal.

"Besides even if I'm not the culprit which I totally am by the way I don't even know why we're discussing this, there are other options besides the culprit being one of you after all…" Ouma stated trying to turn his attention away from the astronaut and back onto the trial by putting a statement out that was bound to grab someone's interest all that was left was for one of them to take the bait.

"…Other options?" Kiibo asked hesitantly and Ouma was unable to stop the grin forming on his face in anticipation for the move Ouma knew he could make now. Thank god for the robot, he might be suspicious but Kiibo was definitely good for moving things along sometimes.

"What are you talking about?" Harukawa asked suspiciously eying him wearily, the assassin had almost flinched when he had mentioned Momota earlier and had been glaring daggers at the exisal ever since.

Ouma took a glance at Saihara who was also eyeing the exisal but instead of Harukawa's murderous intent there was suspicion as it was clear the detective was trying to work out just what Ouma was planning.

"I'm just saying if you don't want to believe that I'm the culprit and you don't want to believe that any of you are the culprit that only means that there has to be someone else," Ouma told them like a teacher explaining something to their students slowly and carefully while they all looked at him suspiciously but the hope that none of them was the culprit was too much for them to silence him, even after all this time they were still too afraid to admit that things like doubt should be common place in this killing game and it was pointless to hide behind things like trust.

Well maybe trust wasn't completely pointless since Ouma would admit his doubt, his paranoia was what isolated him enough that the only way to survive was for him to throw away his morals and sacrifice two lives. That was the problem really they all doubted too little and he doubted too much.

Not that any of that was really any of his concern at the moment, after all, what was important right now was with the way things were going Ouma had control of the flow of the conversation and control of the trial and that means he should be able to steer things in whatever direction he wanted.

"Is that even possible?" Shirogane asked in confusion looking as if she had lost all clue to what was going on while still looking nervous even addressing the exisal, though since they all viewed Ouma as the mastermind that was to be expected though he was still suspicious of the way Shirogane had acted earlier.

Ouma let out his signature laugh before answering grin wide even though only Momota could see it due to the excitement of knowing the bomb he was about to drop on this trial. "You all should know since Maki mentioned her earlier. The culprit doesn't have to be anyone here it could very well be… Junko Enoshima."

There was the briefest moment of silence as the entire courtroom tried to comprehend what was just said and then as soon as the words have processed all hell broke loose. Ouma almost had to cover his mouth to stop himself from laughing at the looks of shock and disbelief on all of his classmate's faces.

As he expected, Saihara was probably the first to process Ouma's claim though the detective looked completely taken aback and Ouma would bet all his mono-coins that the only word running through the detectives head for that split second was ‘what?' Then came Yumeno's dismayed cries.

"That's not possible! Right!?"

"It's clearly impossible, after all, Junko Enoshima is-" Kiibo began obviously trying to sound calm and was resorting to logic but still looked shaken by the claim only to be interrupted by Harukawa.

"She's dead." Harukawa stated glaring darkly at the exisal obviously wondering what Ouma was trying to do "he's just trying to confuse us with his lies, let's just hurry up and vote already," Harukawa demanded as Ouma let out a laugh into the microphone.

"Nishishi, is she though? Are you sure? Do you really think my beloved would die that easily?" Ouma asked, alright so he had found out that Junko Enoshima was dead which was great hopefully that would lead him to finding out who she was or at least why Harukawa would think a dead girl was relevant to him in any way.

"Junko Enoshima is definitely dead, she was executed in the first killing game it is unlikely anyone could survive that unless you mean her will lives on through you…" Kiibo noted thoughtfully looking down clearly thinking about his words Ouma knew that if a person was infamous enough they were basically immortal in the hearts and minds of the public to the point that you'd doubt if they ever could die, judging from everyone's reactions whatever Junko Enoshima did in her life certainly made an impact.

"That still makes Kokichi the culprit, it doesn't change anything!" Harukawa interjected and Ouma wondered if the assassin was getting desperate to end things, after all, he was sure Saihara had investigated the ‘crime scene' and the longer the trial when on and the longer they all continued talking the more time Saihara had to think through everything which meant the detective was more likely to figure out Harukawa's roll in what happened in the hanger.

"What are you doing?" Momota hissed beside him looking at him curiously, the astronaut hadn't shoved him, which meant the other boy had realized that Ouma clearly was planning something. While he normally would tell Momota to mind his own business or some lie about riling everyone up there was something telling him he should just give Momota a straightforward answer.

After all, Momota was probably less likely to mess something up if he knew what Ouma was trying to do.

"Fishing for information," Ouma hissed back simply not really sure what to think of the way Momota seemed taken aback for a split second before something close to a look of knowing that Ouma couldn't quite read flashed across the astronaut's face and Momota went back to staring at the screen to watch the trial.

"Um, he might not be lying…" Shirogane spoke up hesitantly causing Ouma to turn his attention over to the Cosplayer to see what she has to say as she continued, "after all, since when does Junko Enoshima actually stay dead? She does seem to come back from the dead quite a bit doesn't she?"

Ouma had no idea what to make of that statement except for how ridiculous it sounded since the dead couldn't come back to life and waited for one of his classmates to say as much but instead there was a pause throughout the trial room, as everyone seemed to actually consider it.

For the second time since Harukawa had mentioned someone, he had absolutely no idea about Ouma felt as if he was missing something incredibly big to the picture of the killing game. Not quite knowing what to do Ouma found himself turning to Momota to see if the other boy had any clue what Shirogane was even thinking but Momota looked just as confused as Ouma felt.

"…What the fuck?" Momota said as he looked at everyone through the screen, as they seemed to be seriously considering whether someone could stay dead or not and despite himself Ouma found himself agreeing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ouma thinks he's trying to fish for information but in reality he's just given Shirogane the opportunity to have the time of her life. Also do you guys ever think about how wild of a concept Junko must be for anyone who doesn't know her like 'high school model destroyed the world because she's bored, fakes her death by killing her twin, dies and then becomes an AI' I'm just saying Momota and Ouma are in for a treat and by treat I mean losing any idea what's even going on anymore.
> 
> Sorry it's been so long since the last chapter, been very busy with life and every time I sit down to write something in the past month it's usually been for assignments but I'm doing my best and I hope this chapter was worth the wait.


	8. Don't Ask Me Questions I Don't Have The Answers To

There was a hush over the courtroom as everyone tried to comprehend Shirogane's words even the inside of the exisal was miraculously quiet as both Ouma and Momota were too shocked and confused to even argue with each other. Which just went to show how completely lost they both were.

Ouma tended to pride himself on typically being one of the smartest people in the room at all times so not knowing what was going on wasn't an enjoyable experience for him. His ability to analyze any situation wasn't even really a pride thing it was just a fact. He'd always been good at reading people and analyzing information and data, scarily good. To the point where he could almost predict exactly how someone would react in nearly any given situation. That was one of the reasons why telling someone they weren't ‘boring' was the greatest compliments that he could ever give them.

He had discovered at an early age were if you built up a big enough database of personalities and behavior patterns that you could predict what others could do, and while predicting what others would do or trick them into reacting in ways that he just *knew* they would, had been fun at first everything quickly became well predictable for him and after some time that predictability became boredom.

Boredom was like a poison eating away at him and his mind. That was what Ouma had decided back when he thought that it would be that boredom that would kill him. That was before he found the many, many other more dangerous things that wanted to kill him, though even now he sometimes felt as if boredom would kill him. If Ouma had let his boredom consume him he might as well have let something else kill him.

There were two things that had the possibility to save him from boredom when he was younger though. The first was a feeling of falling into nothingness, the unpredictability of people when they were pushed to the brink fed by their darkest impulses acting in ways they never would in normal society. He's later discovered that this feeling could be accurately called despair which might be what the others had been talking about in the trial? But regardless at the time he discovered it, it didn't matter what it was called Ouma didn't like it.

Even if what they did could surprise him Ouma did not like people getting hurt after all. Hurting others was what was really boring in his opinion. That was what his younger self-had felt and as he got older it was obvious that relying on despair to dissipate boredom was an awful idea anyway because then if there was enough despair in the world then despair itself would become predictable.

The second thing that saved Ouma from his boredom was the thing that usually saved Ouma, himself.

When he was younger Ouma often felt like he was tossed around by fate a lot everything in his life decided by the adults around him that couldn't give a shit about him, but there was one thing in his life that Ouma could control, himself. He found that if he acted in ways that others weren't expecting then they themselves would subconsciously deviate from the expected normal pattern.

So teasing people and playing pranks made his life fun and most importantly not boring.

But considering he was the one putting in this effort it still made people who could surprise him on their own, people who could act in ways he never expected them too like Akamatsu, Saihara and still unbelievably Momota incredibly rare and precious finds.

Ouma liked to think his way of playing pranks and annoying people was the superior way of elevating boredom but since this game had started Ouma often wondered if the person that designed this killing game had had a similar problem to himself and went with the despair option. 

After all the unpredictability of the killing game was one of its most terrifying aspects. It was near impossible to predict what people would do when pushed to the edge just look at his own actions! While the liar did like being surprised his need to also have control since so much of his life has lacked it destroyed any enjoyment that he could ever have for this sick game.

Even pretending to like this disgusting, twisted, boring game had left a sick taste in his mouth that he was sure would never go away.

Despite how boring his analytical mind could make things though, Ouma liked being the smartest person in the room, he liked knowing what was going on. It gave him control of the situation no matter how little of the situation he actually could control. Not knowing made him vulnerable and helpless.

He didn't like not knowing, he didn't like being at the mercy of others.

But since this game had started nothing that Ouma liked had actually mattered, he had been trying to figure out what was going on. Trying to find out who the hell Junko Enoshima was and why she was ruining his life. Okay, that thought was slightly over dramatic she was just a blind spot in the information that he had that could potentially ruin all his plans.

Which was a little like ruining his life when you thought about it considering these plans did put his life on the line a fair bit and also the fact that Ouma was pretty sure that Junko Enoshima was the reason Harukawa had tried to kill him earlier or at least part of it.

However even with all the guesses Ouma could make towards who Junko Enoshima even was he still had no idea what Shirogane was insisting on, people can't come back from the dead they had already established that in the disaster of the third trial but the rest of their classmates seemed to be looking at the Cosplayer as if she had made a valid point. The only person who seemed to be as perplexed as him was Momota who also shared the same Junko Enoshima sized hole in his knowledge of the situation.

The fact that Ouma was now on the same page as Momota for something was a horrifying thought, to say the least.

"Tsumugi what do you mean?" Kiibo asked surprisingly being the one to break the silence, whatever had happened that Ouma and Momota missed had seemed to have kicked the robot into hyper gear making Kiibo take more action and be more proactive though what exactly was the cause Ouma still had no idea his only clues being that whatever it was caused Harukawa to try and kill him and probably involved Junko Enoshima somehow wherever she fit into all of this.

Shirogane seemed to hesitate for a slight moment as if the plain girl was not used to being put in the spotlight before seemingly finding the strength to continue "well it's just didn't Junko already fake her death once before when she killed Mukuro Ikusaba? Maybe she didn't actually die in the first killing game after all…" Shirogane suggested trailing off towards the end staring at something far away as if lost in thought at the prospect.

"Nyeh! So you're saying she didn't actually die!? Didn't she execute herself after Makoto Naegi beat her!?" Yumeno asked in terror and fear looking horrified at the prospect, it was weird seeing a shocked expression of dismay on the magician's face that Ouma himself didn't put there honestly he wasn't sure if he liked these big reactions when it wasn't anything he did for the others to react to.

"How though? Wasn't her death witnessed?" Kiibo asked coolly seemingly trying to take the logical approach towards the situation in front of him while Shirogane remained looking thoughtful.

"Hmm, maybe she reused a corpse like she did with Mukuro Ikusaba's corpse when she tried to frame Kyoko Kirigiri?" Shirogane suggested only to be quickly refuted by Kiibo.

"As I said her death was witnessed… much like with the video of Kaito's death, there would be no time to switch out a corpse out and even if there were the six survivors would have noticed," Kiibo stated looking thoughtful. It was weird seeing Kiibo so proactive maybe it was just that they were running out of people but the robot seemed more useful in this trial, he was even remembering that the original purpose of the trial which was Momota's supposed death and not letting himself get too caught up on the Junko Enoshima tangent that they had gone on with the prompting from Ouma.

While the bar for the others participating in the trials wasn't exactly that high to begin with it was weird to see someone other than Saihara and himself act competently in the trials what the heck happened while he was hiding out with Momota in the hanger.

God maybe he really did let Gonta's and Iruma's deaths get to him more than he thought, wanting to completely isolate himself from the group more physically over emotionally this time really looked as if it was biting him in the back and this wasn't even including the murder attempt made on his life.

"Maybe… she had another remnant of despair like Kokichi die in her place while disguised as her, she could have hidden them in Hopes peak. The remnants were obsessed with her, after all, they'd definitely be willing to die for her" Shirogane began to suggest only for the ever-familiar voice of the detective in the trials to shoot down her words.

"No that's wrong!" Saihara shouted causing everyone's attention to turn toward the detective as he began the ever familiar class trial segment of ‘Saihara explains it all' well not it all more like what they're discussing at that very second. "There wasn't anyone hiding in Hopes peak during the first killing game, remember the fact that there were only sixteen students within the Academy at the start of the killing game was what helped to expose Junko Enoshima in the first place" Saihara stated, as the detective explained his reasoning Momota reached to put a hand to cover the microphone in the exisal which made Ouma desperately try to suppress a groan, what was with Momota and constantly wanting to talk all of a sudden?

"Who's Mukuro Ikusaba?" Momota asked and Ouma couldn't suppress his sigh he had a feeling this might happen when everyone started mentioning even more unfamiliar names and terms as if the whole Junko Enoshima fiasco wasn't bad enough and Ouma could already tell where this was going.

"I don't know Kaito," Ouma said because he really didn't in any other situation he'd love to pretend that he did and mess with Momota but all the confusion at the trial taking directions he wasn't really prepared for or expecting, the fact that he had nearly died earlier and the ever crushing weight of the killing game that was suffocating him and crushing him like that hydraulic press would have if there really had only been enough antidote from one person made Ouma too tired to play around.

He was so tired, tired of all the suspicion and betrayal, tired of all the death and murder, tired of constantly having to lie to survive even lying to himself and not being able to trust anyone. He just wanted to get through this trial and end this boring killing game.

"Who's Makoto Naegi?" Momota asked again and Ouma was caught between wanting to sign and to groan.

"I don't know that either Kaito,"

"Who's Kyoko Kirigiri?"

"I don't KNOW Kaito," Ouma repeated himself raising his voice slightly in frustration and was a little bit glad that Momota's hand was currently covering the microphone. The way the two of them were going these little in trial conversations were going to be the thing that got them caught.

"What's Hopes peak Academy?" Momota asked after a small pause of silence and this time Ouma really did groan I frustration.

"Look Kaito, as awful and horrifying it is for me to admit or even think about you and I have the exact same amount of information right now so I'll repeat myself one last time, I. Don't. Know. Kaito!" Ouma told the other boy who simply raised his hands in a placating gesture as Ouma tried to calm himself down a keep his attention on the trial.

"What if that wasn't really Junko Enoshima in the Academy though, it might have been a fake good enough to fool even her classmates, a remnant of despair could have been taking her place to protect her. After all she already had Mukuro pretend to be her at the start of the mutual school killing life," Shirogane countered showing that it wasn't just Kiibo who had been made more active by whatever happened while Ouma wasn't paying attention though he wasn't sure about the Cosplayer's almost excitement at moving the trial along.

"That would imply that whatever imposter that Enoshima chose knew that they would probably die in her place," Kiibo said thoughtfully looking down.

"Kokichi and the other remnants of despair…. They worship Junko Enoshima like a goddess don't they? They… probably love the idea of being able to die for her…" Shirogane said hugging herself as she mentioned the prospect and Ouma found a frown forming on his face at the idea of him worshiping anyone. He'd always marched to the beat of his own drum, Ouma Kokichi wasn't a follower and the idea of being one, of placing his fate in someone else's hands instead of being the master of his own destiny made him uncomfortable. He was the Super High School Level Supreme *Leader* for a reason, he wasn't bossed about by anyone.

At Shirogane's latest point Kiibo began to look more solemn "I suppose that is true…" Kiibo said thoughtfully before the robot suddenly turned his gaze towards the exisal with what looked like determination shining in the robot's eyes.

"Despite everything we've learned I still don't understand why you and the other remnants follow someone like Junko Enoshima. Kokichi what made you follow someone like her? You have a Super High School Level talent like the rest of us, you were also supposed to be a symbol of hope like all Hopes peak Academy students! So why did you fall into despair? Why did you become a remnant?" Kiibo asked staring at the exisal defiantly demanding answers and looking at the others in the trial room it seems the rest of his classmates were also curious about the answer to a question that Ouma had no idea how to answer.

Just like when Harukawa attacked him last night he still had no idea what anyone was talking about when they mentions ‘remnants of despair', he still barely had any idea on who the fuck Junko Enoshima was, they were also throwing out terms he didn't understand like Hopes Peak Academy and even more mystery people and were treating the concepts of Hope and Despair like actual things instead of simple concepts and now Kiibo was demanding answers from him.

God damn it, he might have actually liked it better when the robot was acting useless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kiibo don't ask Ouma why he's a remnant he doesn't know what that is, any way it's the beginning of everyone realizing Ouma has no idea what they're all talking about which is fun. Also I'm going to be forever bitter about V3 not mentioning Mukuro, we didn't even get to see Tsumugi cosplay as her so she gets a mention here.
> 
> Sorry that I haven't written anything in a while, as I mentioned in the last fic I updated I got sick and was in and out of the hospital for a bit and then I had finals taking up all of my time. Finals are over but I have very little energy after my health took a bit of a swan dive and I'm going to see my relatives in the states soon so I won't have my computer so I have no idea when the next chapter will actually be out but I'll try to find time to write when I can. 
> 
> Anyway as a birthday gift to Ouma he gets a bunch of references to the previous killing games that he doesn't understand.

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw this post http://simkjrs.tumblr.com/post/168663479887/tryingtowhisper-partially-inspired-by-this-post and after laughing for ten minutes I decided I had to write it. It's been a while since I've written anything so I'm proud of myself hopefully I'll be able to add more chapters soon, the trial is going to be hilarious and I hope I can do it justice.
> 
> I haven't written anything since starting Uni because everything is hell but hopefully starting a new fic will encourage me to work on at least on of other ones. Also Ouma is an amazing character and like with my Mukuro fic I'm fixing things by having him live.


End file.
